Obsidian Fires
by Mieren
Summary: Mieren has returned. Continuation of Midnight Shadows. Complete!
1. Part 1

Obsidian Fires

By Mieren

Ryo sighed as he lowered himself to a seat at the table, dropping his head onto his arms.  It had been two months now.  Sage and Cye had continued to draw in on themselves as the days passed, and neither of them had spoken since the day they had returned from the ruins of the Dynasty.  The Warlords had acquired their own place and only visited every now and then.  They never said much when they stopped by anyway.

Kento saw him sitting at the table and silently joined him, placing one hand on his friend's shoulder.

Sage was torn up from having lost his best friend.  He took long walks through the woods, staring numbly at the trails as though he were in a dream.  Every waking hour that he didn't spend walking was spent in meditation, as though somehow, someway, he could bring back his friend if he thought about it hard enough.

Cye was even worse.  He no longer spoke to anyone nor did he didn't respond to them in the slightest, almost as if he didn't realize that they were there.  He cried himself to sleep almost every night on the nights that he did sleep, often waking within the hour to some nightmare that haunted him.  Kento had found him curled up on the balcony many times, unable to sleep and staring out at the stars, tears streaming down his face as he fingered his long pointed ears.

Sage passed by them as though in a trance, eyes glazed and walking instinctively.  Ryo and Kento watched him go wearily, knowing that there were no words to ease his pain, having tried them all without success.

*     *     *

Mieren lay on her back in the rippling grass, looking to the wispy clouds streaking the deep blue sky with a small smile playing across her face.  Every now and then, she brought up one hand to stroke her stomach gently, face twisting into a disbelieving smile at the large bulk that her fingers encountered.  A soft chuckle brought her out of her contemplation.

_"And what do you want, you rat?"_

_"Heh.  I want to know when you plan on going back for a visit."_

_"And what makes you think I'm going back?"_

_"I know you too well, Mieren."_

Mieren smirked at the cloaked figure hovering over her, unable to keep from chuckling ruefully at him, knowing full well that he was right.

_"It's been quite a while, hasn't it?  I guess I'm going.  Help me up."_

She clasped the proffered gloved hand gratefully, pulling herself stiffly to her feet and groaning loudly as she cradled her stomach in her arms.

_"How long will it be now?"_

_"Too long,"_ she muttered irritably, glaring at the cheery face.  Grumbling loudly to herself, she snapped open a gateway and prepared to torment some old friends.

*     *     *

Sage sighed loudly, levering himself off of the ground slowly.  Brushing dust and pine needles off of his clothes slowly, he began his lumbering trip back to the house, knowing full well that it would be getting dark soon.

He was halfway back to the house when something pegged him in the back of the head, causing him to cry out and clutch his stinging scalp.  Growling angrily, he spun to face his attacker.

*     *     *

Mieren smirked at the boy's expression, deciding once again that humans were cute when they were confused.  She repressed the urge to snicker at Sage's furious expression when she realized that he couldn't see her from where she was hiding in the shadows.  She waited for him to turn around before pegging him with another pebble, earning herself a yelp and a furious glower.

Stepping out of the shadows, she half expected the boy to tackle her from the expression on his face.  She almost wondered if she should hide until he cooled off a bit.

Sage finally snapped out of his rage long enough to recognize his tormentor.  Mieren grinned at his incredulous expression, trying not to snicker and failing miserably.

"Mieren?" he breathed, walking forward hesitantly.

_Yes?_ she drawled, delighted by the confusion etched on his face.

He stumbled forward slowly, eyes wide.  Reaching out one shaking hand, he grasped a silky lock of her raven hair, staring at it in wonder before looking at her deep jade eyes.  She noticed his look and made a face.

_If you're wondering about my appearance… I, ah, no longer have the armor,_ she admitted sheepishly.

Sage jerked in surprise.  "I thought you could speak."

_Not without the armor, I can't._

"What are you doing here?" he whispered, eyes misting.

_Close your eyes if you want to know._

Sage blinked in confusion but complied slowly, jumping slightly when she snagged his wrist.  His brows knotted in confusion when he felt the cloth of her shirt slide along the back of his hand and he swallowed nervously.  He jumped when his hand came into contact with her stomach, fingers trembling on the smooth surface.

Eyes snapping open involuntarily, he looked at Mieren's stomach in wonder, running his fingers gently across the tight skin.

"This is a joke, right?" he stammered, probing her with a thread of energy, jerking back when the baby responded to the power by kicking his hand.

_Not a chance._

Sage grinned slowly for the first time in two months, running his hands along the sides of her stomach, his fingers trembling fiercely.

"Who's is it?" he asked in a quavering voice.

_Mine,_ Mieren smirked, grinning widely at his shocked expression.

"That's not what I meant," he mumbled, kneeling and pressing his ear to her stomach only to have his cheek promptly kicked by the baby.

_Shall we show the others?_

Sage jumped up, smiling widely.  "You're not going to tell me who the father is?"

Mieren made a face, looking at the ground.  _Who do you think, idiot?_

He grinned wider, for the first time in two months not grimacing at the mention of his friend, and darted down the trail.  Looking back, Sage realized that Mieren was only following at a slow waddle, stomach cradled in her hands.

_You could slow down a bit, you inconsiderate airhead.  I'm fat and I can't move very quickly anymore without a good deal of pain._

Sage trotted back to her contritely.  Blushing slightly, he scooped her up into his arms and began a smooth lope down the trail back to Mia's house, ignoring her startled squawk at the treatment.

Reaching the house, Sage lowered her gently to the ground and darted into the house, eyes gleaming.  Mieren followed him slowly, hanging back in the living room as he charged his friends in the kitchen.

"Hey guys!" he called out, eyes shining as he grabbed Kento's arm, shocking the larger boy into utter silence.  Sage tugged his arm forcefully, yanking him out of the chair and pushing him into the living room.

Mieren saw him coming and stuck out her foot, causing the boy to plant his face into the floor.  Ryo was similarly pulled out of his shock as he was sent careening into the room, Mieren helping him into an undignified position on the floor beside Kento.

"Have you lost your ever lovin' mind, Sage?" Kento growled, trying to push himself off of the floor.

"What's going on?" Ryo demanded as he pushed himself to his feet.

It took a few moments for it to register that someone had tripped them when Sage had pushed them into the room.  Looking up in a state of utter shock, Ryo only looked at her for a moment before running upstairs, calling out Mia's name.

He returned in a few seconds, pushing both Mia and Cye in front of him, laughing too hard to answer Mia's furious questions.  They fell silent when they walked into the room.  Sage was grinning wildly and Kento was staring blankly in a state of shock.

Mia gasped when she saw Mieren, running forward to embrace her.  She pulled back suddenly, having noticed how much larger Mieren had gotten.  She was going to ask a few questions but was cut short when Mieren winked and her and put one finger across her lips.

Cye blinked at her numbly, eyes widening in recognition after a moment.  Mieren threw an amused look in his direction before backing a few paces away from the group and lifting her shirt over her stomach dramatically.

Kento choked and went into a fit of coughing, tears streaming from his eyes.  Mia grinned happily, her amusement rivaling Sage's.  Cye staggered forward with a crooked grin on his face and placed one trembling hand on her stomach.  Ryo just took one look at her and fainted, creating a round of snickers through the room.

_Men are just too much fun.  Don't you agree, Mia?_

It took nearly half an hour to revive Ryo.

When she suggested that it might be nice to eat, Cye and Mia all but raced each other to the kitchen, asking Mieren if there was anything in particular she wanted.

Every now and then, Ryo would lean over and poke Mieren in the stomach, who grinned in amusement at his mystified expression.  After being poked one too many times, she leaned over to him and began poking him on his forehead.

_This is what you're doing to my child,_ she wailed dramatically, following him around the room for a moment when he tried to escape her torment, peals of laughter following them as they raced around wildly.  Mieren quickly stopped her teasing when Mia and Cye announced that the food was ready.

Halfway through dinner, the questioning began.

"You said you no longer had the armor," Sage began slowly.  "What did you do with it?"

_I gave it to someone._

Ryo's eyes ignited, but he was cut off before his tirade began.

"How far along are you?" Mia asked, leaning forward slightly.

_About three months._

Everyone at the table jerked and looked at her incredulously, Mieren blinking in confusion at their startled stares.

_What?_

"Um, Mieren," Sage murmured slowly.  "How much longer will it be?"

_You say that as though you think I know._

Mia blinked, smiling gently when she noticed Mieren staring at her bulging stomach in a mixture of wonder and disbelief.

"First time to be pregnant?" Mia asked gently.

_Yea, that's partially the reason I don't know.  The other would have to be blamed on the father, I believe.  Hell, I didn't even think it was possible for me to bear a child._

Ryo grinned weakly.  "You're staying, right?  At least until the kid is born."

Mieren's head snapped up as she turned to regard him.  _I can't stay for long._

Ryo sighed and sent his thoughts directly to her, careful not to let any of the others hear him.  _Please, Mieren.  I'm begging you.  It's been months since either Cye or Sage has spoken.  Cye has been catatonic since you and Rowen both vanished, and Sage was almost there himself.  Please, you have to stay._

Careful not to let any expression show on her face, she lowered her head to her chest and closed her eyes, sending her thoughts back to her own dimension.  Ryo watched her carefully, raising his hand warningly when Mia opened her mouth to ask her what she was doing.  Seeing Ryo's stern expression, everyone decided to remain silent.

Emotions raged across Mieren's face too quickly to be identified.  After a moment, she opened her eyes, grinning widely.

_Is the invitation still open?_ she asked slowly, eyes shining.

Mia grinned widely.  "Always."

_Can I bring someone from home to stay too?_

Mia didn't hesitate before nodding, willing to agree to anything to get Mieren to stay.  She knew full well that the girl had to stay if Cye and Sage were to recover fully.  Only the shock of her appearance had pulled them out of their depression, and she wanted to keep them mentally stable for as long as was possible.

"What's her name?" Kento asked, intrigued.

_It's a guy._

The Ronins looked at each other and shrugged.  "What is _his_ name?" Kento corrected, grinning in amusement.

Mieren tensed slightly.  _Well… _she trailed off, looking around uncertainly.  _If you must know, it's Rowen._

"WHAT?!?!"

The unified shriek caused Mieren to wince.  The onslaught of questions cut off abruptly as a flash of deep blue light erupted in the living room.  Everyone stared at Mieren blankly for a moment before a race for the living room began.

Cye was the first to make it into the living room, his elfin agility giving him a distinct advantage over the others.  Making out a cloaked figure in the midst of an inferno of dying blue flames, he let out a joyous cry and darted forward, spilling them both to the floor.  Cye was shoved off gently as Rowen tried to stand, the hood of his cloak falling free of his face as he tried to free himself from his friend's crushing grip.

Barely having freed himself, he was snagged off of the floor with a choked off cry as Sage caught him in a bear hug, nearly crushing his ribs.

"Put me down!" Rowen wailed, squirming fiercely.

Instead of complying with his demand, Sage passed him off to Kento, who decided to show him what a _real_ bear hug was.  Rowen's eyes bulged as he felt his ribs creaking, whimpering slightly as he kicked feebly at his friend.

"Mieren!  Help!" he cried out pitifully.  Mieren only snickered fitfully.

Making a face, Rowen turned surprisingly calm eyes on the boy trying to crush him, tensing the muscles through his arms and back suddenly to break free of his friend's vice-like grip.  Gasping and staggering back, he blanched when Ryo charged him.

With a whimper, Rowen shot towards the ceiling.  Hovering inches below the beautiful fifteen-foot ceiling, he made a face at the people below him.

"I'm not coming down until you agree not to squish me into an unidentifiable quivering mass," he called down, smirking at their shocked expressions.

"How did you do that?" Ryo called, grinning.

"You learn some interesting things in Mieren's dimension," he snorted.

_Don't make me come up there,_ Mieren called, snickering softly.

Cye floated up towards his friend, arms crossed across his chest defiantly.  Rowen blanched and shot to the far end of the room.  "No fair!" he wailed loudly.

"Come down.  We won't squish you," Kento agreed, eyes dancing as he looked up at a friend he never thought he'd see again.

Frowning uncertainly, Rowen lowered himself to the floor just outside the door leading to the kitchen, looking at it as a possible escape route, squawking when White Blaze moved into the doorway and eliminated the possibility.

"And you wondered why Mieren was hungry when she arrived," Sage taunted, eyes misting.  "Rowen's been cooking for her."

"No way," Ryo said in an unsteady voice.  "She'd be dead if he had."

Rowen made a pouting face at them, brightening when Mieren wrapped one arm around him.  His lips curved upwards slowly.

"What happened, man?" Cye asked, walking over to hug his friend, gently lest he terrify him again.

Rowen paled quickly, staring hard at the floor.  "They have ways of reviving people that have died.  I'd rather not talk about it," he whispered, closing his eyes and refusing to look up from the floor.

Staring hard at the angle of the light shining in through the open window, he made a face and excused himself, mumbling something about being tired before retreating to his room.  Mieren glared at everyone remaining in the room angrily.

_That's a touchy subject.  I don't want any of you to bring it up for any reason, _she snapped, storming up the stairs after Rowen.

Cye blanched and stared at the floor guiltily.  "I think I should apologize," he murmured.  "I seem to keep causing him problems, after all."

Before anyone could say anything, he darted up the stairs after his friends.  Reaching the top, he paused outside the door to Rowen and Sage's room, blinking in shock when he heard the archaic language coming from the room.

_"Rowen, please don't leave now.  You told me that you'd stay only minutes ago."_

_"You know I didn't want to come back, Mieren.  I don't want them to know."_

_"They won't care, love.  You didn't hold it against them after what happened in the tunnels or after what I did.  Why should they do any differently?"_

_"This is different, Mieren," _Rowen whimpered, breathing heavily.

_"They won't care!  Rowen, love, please don't leave," _Mieren whispered raggedly.

Cye staggered back silently, eyes wide and ears quivering fiercely.  Making as little noise as possible, he darted down the stairs, skidding to a halt in the living room.

"Cye?" Kento asked softly.  "What's wrong?"

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Cye repeated the bit of conversation he had heard.  A stunned silence greeted him when he finished.

"Good God," Ryo whispered.  "What did they have to do to revive him?"

Cye shook his head.  "I don't know.  I don't recognize it, whatever it is.  I don't think that we should let on that we know either.  It'll only upset him."

Nods of agreement passed around the room quickly.  They had barely settled into inconspicuous positions before Mieren came back in, glancing at them carefully.

_He's asleep, and if you value your health, you won't bother him._  Nods circulated around the room as she glared at them angrily, sniffing in satisfaction when they all gave in.  _Question.  Where should I sleep tonight?_

"Why not with Rowen?" Sage asked, almost certain he had been evicted to the couch again.

_Won't work.  There's only one bed in there, and ever since I started gaining weight, I began thrashing in my sleep.  I don't want to pound him into oblivion._

"Sage could stay in my room, and you could have the couch," Ryo suggested.

Mieren nodded and seated herself comfortably in the reclining chair, only halfheartedly getting into the conversation they began.  She occasionally looked to the ceiling worriedly.  Her glances did not go unnoticed by the others in the room.


	2. Part 2

Obsidian Fires

Part 2

By Mieren

Sage rolled into the wall for the fifth time in so many minutes.  Rubbing his face wearily, he pushed himself to a sitting position, making a face at Ryo, who was still sound asleep.

"Well, that explains why I was cold," Sage grumbled as he eyed the mound of sheets and blankets to his side rolled up in a massive heap with Ryo in the center.  "You have a queen size bed and you still kicked the shit out of me all night.  That tears it.  Tomorrow, I'm sleeping on the floor."

Ryo snorted in his sleep and looked up with bleary eyes.  "Wha…"

"Get up, idiot," Sage growled as he headed for the door.

Glancing at the clock, Sage started.  It was past noon!  He scrubbed his hands through his hair and looked around wildly.  He knew that Mieren had kept them up most of the night, but he hadn't bothered to glance at the clock before passing out on his side of the bed.  He let out a started exclamation as he tripped over White Blaze.

"Find somewhere else to sleep," he muttered, glaring at the tiger irately.

Grumbling loudly to himself and ignoring White Blaze's irritated snort, Sage headed into the hall and towards the bathroom.  Pausing to pound on the other doors in the hall, he began his morning primping when he was satisfied that the others were getting up.  After tinkering with his hair for about an hour, he wandered back into the hall, muttering to himself when he found that Rowen still wasn't up.

"Rowen!  Get your ass out of bed!" Sage called loudly, making a face.

"Go in there and get him up," Ryo muttered as he pushed by him to get to the bathroom.

Sage made a face at his friend before pushing into his room, wishing that Mieren was capable of getting Rowen out of bed.  Moving over to the edge of the bed, he shook the mound under the blankets, earning himself a loud snore.

"Some things never change," he muttered dryly, prying the blankets off of his friend and trying to pull him onto the floor.  "Come on, man.  You went to bed over eight hours before we did.  How can you still be tired?"  Rowen snorted loudly in response, flopping over in his sleep to secure himself to the bed.

Sage tapped his foot impatiently.  Striding across the room, he pulled back the curtains to allow the noon light to spill across his friend.  Rowen squalled loudly and leapt out of the bed, darting into the hall at full tilt.  Sage blinked numbly, never having been able to get Rowen up that easily in his entire life.

Shrugging, he stepped into the hall, freezing when he found Rowen curled up on the floor just outside of the door, head resting on his knees as he panted raggedly.

"Jeez, Rowen.  Are you okay?"

Taking a deep breath, he nodded mutely, eyes glazed and staring ahead blankly.  Sage watched him worriedly as he slowly pulled himself to his feet, pushing his lank blue hair out of his pale face with trembling fingers.  Spitting out something about 'indecent hours of the day,' he stumped down the hall towards the living room, Sage trailing him after a moment.

Rowen headed straight to the couch, placing one hand on Mieren's shoulder and saying something quietly to her in another language.  Mieren jerked awake, murmuring out a response before rising unsteadily to her feet, scrubbing her eyes with the back of her hands as she looked at the kitchen longingly.  Sighing, she followed him back up the stairs, leaving Sage to stare at them blankly as they disappeared from view.

*     *     *

Mieren walked into the room first, squinting and snapping the curtains shut irritably before claiming a seat on the bed.  Rowen followed her in slowly, eyes worried.

_"Is something wrong or can this wait until after breakfast, love?"_

_"Mieren, I want to go back.  I can't stay here,"_ Rowen murmured, wrapping his arms around her.  _"They'll find out if I stay."_

_"Think about this reasonably.  Of your five friends downstairs, three of them have been turned into demons, another is now an elf, and the last one doesn't care what happened to them.  No one will hold this against you.  They care about you Rowen."_

Rowen's eyes watered and he looked away, trembling slightly.  _"This is different,"_ he insisted.

Mieren sighed.  _"I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but do you know what happened to the others when they thought you were dead?"_

Blinking uncertainly, Rowen shook his head.  Scrubbing her hands through her unruly hair, she continued.

_"Neither Cye nor Sage have spoken in two months.  Cye has been catatonic.  He didn't seem to realize when the others were speaking to him.  He stopped eating and bathing.  He didn't respond to anything at all, even when he was in danger.  Sage was no better off.  He hasn't spoken for the two months you've been gone, and I believe that he tried to kill himself on a number of occasions thinking that you were dead.  I scanned his mind when he didn't have his thoughts shielded.  He's been going out for long walks into the woods, staring over the cliff while standing at its edge and crying.  The others were engulfed in deep depressions like I have never seen before.  Hell, Kento even lost weight, not eating much since you left.  He's much thinner now, or haven't you noticed?  They missed you, Rowen.  They don't care about anything except that you're back."_

Rowen had begun to tremble before she was halfway through describing the others, shaking his head in denial.  When he only sat shaking a few feet from her, she sighed and moved over to embrace him as best as she was able with her growing bulk.

Gasping sharply, she slugged him in the arm and scowled at him furiously.

_"What did I do?"_

_"This is _your_ fault,"_ Mieren grumped, clutching her swollen stomach in one arm.

Rowen smiled sheepishly.  _"How much longer, do you think?"_

_"I don't know.  A normal demon is pregnant no longer than a month.  I have no idea in this case.  The child is half human, you know.  Hell, I didn't even think that such interbreeding was possible.  Ah well, it's still your fault."_

Blushing slightly, Rowen caressed her growing stomach, looking completely lost and helpless.  Mieren giggled at his expression, rising slowly and heading for the door.

Rowen looked up with puppy eyes.  _"You're not going to stay with me for a little while?" _he whimpered, reaching out with lips twitching slightly when he saw her expression and knew that he had won.  Mieren sighed and settled down on the bed beside him, grinning slightly at the expression on his face before leaning forward for a kiss.

*     *     *

Sage relayed what had happened to the others while they sat at the dining table, Ryo standing lookout in case one of the two topics of their discussion came into the area.  They finished their discussion several minutes before the two wandered into the room, Rowen more than half-supporting a swaying Mieren.

Sighing loudly, Mieren settled herself into a chair, grumbling something in her own language that caused Cye to choke on a bite of his sandwich.

"I understood that, you know," Cye grumbled, cheeks heating.

"What the hell did she say, Cye?" Kento snickered.

"I don't think that it can be translated," he said evasively, ducking his head.

Making a point of not looking at the others, Cye began to study the table carefully, having no intention of looking up until his cheeks were done burning.

"That bad, huh?" Sage chortled.  "Mieren, would you mind repeating that so we could hear?"  Mieren only looked at him irately, grumbling something that caused Cye to squeak and dart out of the room, face aflame.

"Man, he didn't even do that when the Warlords were teasing him," Ryo said slowly, struggling vainly not to laugh.

_You pick up a few interesting phrases by the time you hit my age._

"I'll say," Rowen murmured, staring intently at the table, cheeks heating.

"What do you want to eat, Rowen?" Mia called from the kitchen.

Blanching and still studying the table, he declined lunch, saying that he wasn't hungry at the moment.  Sage studied him carefully for a moment before shrugging and rising to his feet.

"I'm going out to practice," he announced.  "Want to come, Rowen?"

Rowen shook his head forcefully, eyeing the window carefully with a clenched jaw and tight lips.  Unfortunately, the others noticed his unnerved expression when he looked up, seeing for the first time his bloodshot eyes and realizing suddenly that he had been crying recently.

"Mieren, could I speak to you for a moment?" Mia called from the kitchen.

Rising slowly with her stomach cradled in her arms and spitting out phrases that the others were sure were curses, she made her way into the kitchen.

Mia waited for the door to close behind her before beginning.  "I want you to send your thoughts directly to me so that the others can't hear," she said softly.

"Not necessary," Mieren whispered back.

Mia jumped.  "When did you learn to speak?  The others said you couldn't without the armor."  Mieren only shrugged.

"Rowen's been teaching me.  I have problems with a few words and conjugations, but I know enough to get by, I think."

Smiling weakly, Mia began bluntly.  "What's wrong with Rowen?  It's not like him to avoid us or not try to out-eat Kento."

By the time she had finished, Mieren's features had degenerated into a scowl.  "Nothing's wrong with him.  He's fine," she snapped, turning to leave.

"Liar," Mia hissed, eyes blazing.  "I've known him long enough to know that he's hiding something and I want to know what."

Tensing slightly, Mieren made a face at her.  "If he wants you to know, he'll tell you.  If he doesn't, you are _not_ to ask."  Without waiting for Mia's response, she left the kitchen, stalking into the living room with Rowen in tow.

The others were waiting for them when they arrived.  Cye vacated his spot in the easy chair to give Mieren the seat.  Rowen plopped down on the floor next to her protectively.  Walking over to Cye, Sage and Ryo shifted all of their energy to the younger boy, Sage keeping up his efforts when Ryo left after a moment.  Mia wandered into the room, eyeing them all suspiciously.

Kento walked over to Rowen slowly, face tight in determination.  Eyeing him warily, Rowen shifted away slightly, squawking angrily when he was pinned to the floor suddenly by the larger and stronger boy.  Mieren tried to surge to her feet, but was stopped short as turquoise cords pinned her to the chair, a shield slamming around her mind.  Another shield followed, preventing Rowen from lashing out.

"I'm sorry, Rowen," Ryo whispered, eyes stinging as he threw back the curtains to the main windows in the room.

Rowen screamed, bucking fiercely in Kento's grip and very nearly dislodging the other boy, much to everyone's shock.  His screaming rose in volume and pitch as the seconds ticked on, Mieren all but foaming at the mouth as she fought the weaves holding the two of them.  Thin black tendrils of smoke began rising from Rowen's exposed skin, his pale flesh darkening slightly in the light.

His cries ceased abruptly as Mieren unfurled one wing, liquefying it momentarily to push it past the cords holding her to cover Rowen's quivering form.

"My God," Sage whispered as he looked at Rowen's charred skin.  "Close the curtains, Ryo!"

He complied immediately without taking his eyes from the still form of his friend.  When the curtains were closed completely, he moved to Rowen's side, reaching out hesitantly to touch the blisters forming on his friend's face.  He drew back when Rowen threw Kento off of him and jumped to his feet to stalk out of the room, smoke still trailing from his skin.  Cye cut him off by slamming a barrier between the living room and the stairs, swallowing nervously when Rowen rounded on him.

"Rowen, I'm sorry," Sage breathed.  "I saw that you didn't like the light when I tried to wake you up.  I was only trying to find out why.  I didn't know…"

Rowen spun to face Sage, his expression murderous.  "Take this damn shield off of me, Cye," he snarled over his shoulder, advancing on his friend.  Sage backed out of his reach quickly, raising his hands defensively.

"You want to know why?" Rowen hissed between his teeth, lips barely parted.  His eyes flashed crimson for a moment before he snagged Sage by the throat and lifted him clear of the ground.

The others gaped at his strength in shock for a moment before moving forward to free Sage from his furious grip.  Rowen dropped him, backing away a few steps, sapphire eyes flashing.

Mieren sighed and slumped wearily against her bonds.  _Give in, Rowen.  They're going to find out sooner or later, so you might as well spill it before they pull another stupid stunt and hurt you again._

Rowen froze, throwing a betrayed look in her direction before slumping to the floor, head resting on his knees.  Sobbing silently, he curled into a ball, refusing to uncurl enough to look up at the others as he began to speak haltingly.

"It's the way they brought me back to life," he whispered, curling up tighter.  "Mieren went to a group in her dimension and asked them to revive me.  They did, but there's a price to pay for being brought back like this."

Rubbing his throat, Sage moved over to his best friend, sinking to the floor beside him slowly with a blatant disregard for his health.  "What did they do to you?"

Rowen lifted his head hesitantly, looking up to each of the Ronins gathered around him wearily before continuing.  He didn't bother to say anything this time, only opening his mouth widely for a moment.  The gasps circulating the room and Cye's loss of control of his shields and powers told him that they had seen.  Feeling tired beyond his years, he snapped his mouth shut and lowered his head to his knees again, eyes sliding shut of their own accord.

Cool hands grasped his face, easing the burns covering him.  He jerked his head away when Sage placed one thumb on the corner of his mouth, applying gentle pressure to cause his lips to pull away from his teeth.  Glaring angrily at his friends, he stubbornly closed his mouth, pressing his lips together tightly.

"Tell me those fangs aren't what I think," Kento breathed, sinking to the floor.  Sage and Rowen glared at him murderously, silencing him from commenting further.

"What all do we need to avoid doing to you?" Sage asked so softly that Rowen could barely hear him.  "Besides trying to fry you, I mean."

Rowen threw him a halfhearted glare before turning away.  "I don't know.  I'm still trying to figure that out myself."

"Well, I guess that's all of us now," Ryo muttered softly, sinking to the floor beside the others.

Cye made a face.  "I can do something to help, I think."  Rowen turned to look at him, his expression so hopeless and desperate that Cye had to struggle not to wince.

Sighing, he gathered energy for a moment before beginning, eyes tight with concentration as he struggled not to mess up this spell like he had the last.  It made his chest hurt seeing that Rowen still trusted him after what he had done.  The whole mess was his fault.  If he had only asked Mieren before casting that spell on Rowen, he wouldn't have died, wouldn't have had to go through this.

Finishing the final knots in the spell, he snagged Rowen with his mind and threw him across the room, opening the curtains with a single thought.  Rowen squawked and tried to jump out of the light, preparing to pound Cye into a nameless, shapeless pulp.  He paused, holding his hands out in disbelief.  The light still burned, almost as painfully as before, but his skin was not charring in the slightest.

Moving out of the light slowly, he wandered over to Cye, sapphire eyes demanding an answer.

"What did you do?"

Cye blinked.  "I'm not entirely sure.  It affects the skin's strength is all I know."

_Idiot.  You should not be casting spells that you don't know.  I thought that we've been over this._

He flinched guiltily, looking away from both Mieren and Rowen.  "I think with a little time, I might be able to figure out how to undo your problem with the sun entirely."

Rowen nodded slowly, smiling hesitantly, showing his teeth without realizing it.  "You guys don't care?" he whispered in an unsteady voice.

Everyone looked at him as though he had lost his mind.  "Look at us!" Kento wailed miserably.  "We're as screwed up as you are, so we can't say anything."

"Hell, Rowen, you didn't even hold it against me when I attacked you guys.  Why are you worrying?" Ryo asked, utterly dumbfounded.  Cye had told them that Rowen was afraid of their finding out something, but he had no idea that it had been tearing up quite _this_ badly.

_I told you so,_ Mieren smirked, slapping her open palm against the back of Rowen's head with a resounding crack.

"Mieren, what all do you know about Rowen?" Kento asked.  The others were glad that they didn't ask when both Rowen and Mieren leveled irritated glares in his direction.

_I know that the things you call vampires were the only ones that could bring him back after he died.  I tried for an hour to think of another way to help him, but had to leave before it was too late for him to be revived.  I couldn't think of anything else to do for him._  Mieren sighed, throwing a guilty look at Rowen before continuing.  _He wasn't able to take the sun until a moment ago.  He won't be eating anything either, so don't bother him with it._

"How vampire-like is he?" Kento continued, obviously not caring about his health in the slightest.  "You said he wasn't eating, so shouldn't he be…"

"Shut up," Rowen snapped, cutting Kento off before he could finish his sentence, eyes burning with poorly contained fury.

Mia and several of the Ronins paled, realizing that Kento had hit a sore point with Rowen.  Sage swallowed nervously, wondering briefly how his friend had been surviving if he was that touchy about his diet, deciding that he was just uppity about them knowing.  He looked at Mieren questioningly, afraid to ask her anything for fear of upsetting Rowen further.  Thinking furiously, he ran a small probe of energy through her, too slight for anyone to detect what he was doing.

Sage's eyebrows shot up to his hairline, his face paling further if that was possible.  He wondered if he should keep silent or tell the others in private later.  Deciding that Rowen would do terrible things to him if he let on that he knew, he decided to keep the knowledge to himself.  Mieren had been keeping him alive, being able to regenerate any blood loss at a rate that he knew that no one else could manage.

He became aware of the others staring at him suddenly, making a face at himself when he realized that he had been staring at the floor.  He was thinking of some lie to get him out of telling what he knew when Rowen saved him by leaving the room, distracting everyone long enough for him to slip away silently.

Resting against the side of the house, Sage looked up to the balcony of his room, deciding that Rowen had probably hidden himself there to avoid the others.  Looking around quickly to make sure no one was around, he leapt up the balcony, landing lightly on the balls of his feet.  Rowen unlocked the door and motioned for him to come in.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted me here or not," Sage murmured.

"Yea, it'd be nice to talk to someone who's not going to compare me to his comic books," Rowen grumped.

"You know that Kento's an idiot.  Just ignore him."

"If I remember correctly, someone in this room was touchy about his appearance for a long time."

"Well, that was different.  You don't have people trying to ride on your back," Sage grumbled, glancing out the window.

"Same concept though.  I caught you poking at me," Rowen accused, raising one eyebrow slowly.

Grimacing, Sage looked guiltily at the floor.  "Uh, sorry."

"You figured it out, didn't you?" Rowen asked suddenly, startling Sage so badly that he nearly lost his balance.  "You were looking at Mieren pretty hard, after all."

"I'm just wondering how this all works.  Your curiosity is contagious, you know."

Rowen sighed and sat down heavily on the one bed remaining in the room.  He glanced up a Sage a few times, obviously considering what to tell him.  Sage only waited him out patiently.

"Well, to start with, it takes thirteen of them to change someone, twenty one if they have to be brought back to life first.  It's not an easy process.  It's rather painful, actually.  I'm infinitely grateful that my mind blocked out most of the memories of what they did to me, otherwise I'd probably have nightmares for the rest of my life, which is going to be very long judging from what Mieren told me."

Sage nodded numbly, waiting for him to continue.  "I haven't found anything that causes problems except for the light and certain wards, but I'd be willing to bet that you guys have trouble with the things too."

Sage flinched.  "Yea, I didn't really enjoy trying to get all of those things out of the room.  I had to get Mia to help me move them out of the room since even Cye couldn't handle them.  Strange, considering that he's only an elf."

"Your toys are that much fun, huh?" Rowen muttered sarcastically, his voice lowering to a near whisper before he continued.  "Well, you've already figured out the rest of the details about me, so there's no point in listing them."

Perking up instantly, Sage grinned in relief.  "That's not too bad.  The only real problem you have to worry about is the light, and Cye's almost fixed that already."

"Umm, not completely.  I don't crispy anymore, but it still hurts like hell.  There's also the problem of eating…"

Nodding thoughtfully and trying not to wince, Sage began to mull over the problem.  "Hell, Cye might be able to do something about that too if he has a little time to work with it," he trailed off when Rowen shook his head slowly.

"Mieren and I have been working on that one for the better part of two months now.  She couldn't do anything about the sun beyond keeping it from killing me immediately.  We haven't had any luck in finding _anything_ about the other one."

Rowen slumped forward, resting his elbows on his knees and placing his head in his hands.  Feeling utterly helpless, Sage sat down beside him, wrapping one arm around his best friend, pulling him closer when he noticed that he was trembling slightly.

"I can't stand this, Sage," he whimpered.  "If this is what it takes for me to live, I wish she had just let me die."

Sage stiffened, tightening his grip on his best friend.  "Oh God, Rowen.  Don't say that.  We'll figure out something.  It may take time, but we can do something."

Rowen looked up at him with dull eyes.  "It wasn't so bad back in Mieren's dimension when everyone already knew what I was and left me alone.  No one thought anything about what I was…"

"You know that we don't care," Sage murmured, tightening his grip enough that he threatened to crush his friend.  Rowen looked up at him with haunted eyes.

"Do me a favor?" Rowen asked softly, waiting for Sage to nod.  "Could you get Kento to leave me alone?  I'm afraid that I'm going to do something to him if he keeps pestering me."

"Hell, if he doesn't stop the stupidity, I'll do something to him."

"Oh, and one more thing," Rowen muttered, Sage looking over at him curiously.  "If you _must_ get me up in the day, find a new way to wake me up."

*     *     *

Shortly after the sunset, Rowen perked up considerably, looking completely awake for the first time since he had returned.

Ryo watched him, relieved.  Whatever Sage had said to him, he had calmed down considerably and was even smiling and cracking a few jokes, most of them directed at Kento, much to his irritation.  He had even shown them how he was able to manipulate energy to fly around, though only Ryo managed to get more than a foot off the floor.

Rowen was laughing softly, forgetting himself enough to show his teeth when Ryo slammed into the ceiling.  Unable to control the energies needed for flight, he couldn't pry himself off of the ceiling more than shifting his arms and legs slightly.  Giving up, he let go of whatever it was he was doing, plummeting to the floor below amid peals of laughter.

"Not funny," he grumbled.

"This is how it's done," Kento smirked, lifting a whole three inches off of the ground before his ascent stopped abruptly.

"Pathetic, Kento.  Can't even lift your own weight," Rowen taunted.

"Like this," Cye called out happily, gliding around the room with sickening ease.

"Gee, thanks," Sage muttered, eyeing the ground around a foot beneath him in a mixture of frustration and amusement.  White Blaze immediately helped him down, slamming into the startled Ronin to pin him to the ground.

Rowen locked eyes with the great cat for a moment, the massive tiger blinking his strangely intelligent eyes slowly before complying with his request.  Getting off of Sage, he hopped onto Kento, creating a startled squall that only lasted for an instant before he was pinned below the great hulking feline.

Mieren and Mia watched them fly around and taunt each other like idiots, occasionally slamming into each other and beginning impromptu wrestling matches, Rowen winning more often than not.

_"Mieren."_

The slurred name brought everyone in the room to a sudden halt.  The accent was thick and terrifyingly familiar.  Rowen paled and backpedaled quickly, flattening himself against the wall furthest from the voice.

Stepping forward, Mieren raised her head in acknowledgement, eyes shifting to crimson as she scanned the room.  Turning slightly to face the voice directly, she began speaking in her native tongue.  Only Cye and Rowen were able to follow the conversation with any success at all, the others trying futilely to listen with their minds.

_"Yes, dark one?  I am here, speak your mind."_

_"I have come for the agreed price."_

Nodding as though it made sense, Mieren moved forward slightly, pausing when Rowen caught her arm.

"What is he talking about?" he hissed frantically.

_I had to agree to follow through with any request they made to get them to bring you back.  Don't worry, I won't be gone for long, I'm sure._

_"Do not count on that, Midnight warrior.  There is a war raging across the planet, and our demand is that you end it."_

_"And who started the war?"_

_"The dark elves.  They and some of the darker demons are causing havoc.  They purposely waited for you to leave before doing this."_

_"Heh.  Is that it?  That's simple enough."_

Cye looked up from his furious translating for the others, face pale.  "You aren't seriously going, are you?"

_I promised, Cye.  I have to go.  Don't worry, I'll return soon._

A cloaked figure emerged from the deeper shadows in the room, flashing a smile in Rowen's direction, displaying a set of horrendously long canines.  Rowen swallowed thickly and took a step back before he caught himself.

_"I'm going too,"_ he stated simply, eyes blazing with determination.

Conferring with the others for a moment, Cye looked up.  _"We're going too."_

_No, you're not,_ Mieren snapped, glaring at the Ronins forcefully.  _"Lead on, dark one.  I will follow."_

A portal of blue gray flames rose just in front of the cloaked figure, who gestured for Mieren to pass through.  Throwing one last glare at the others in the room, she vanished through the gateway of gray fires.  The cloaked man followed her and snapped the shining path closed immediately behind him, leaving the others standing numbly in a silence only broken by Rowen's soft sobs.


	3. Part 3

Obsidian Fires

Part 3

By Mieren

It had been more than a week since Mieren left to fight in the war in her home dimension.  Over the days, it became impossible to rouse Rowen when the sun was up and was extremely difficult to do so even after it had set.  On the ninth evening, Rowen had returned to his room after milling around the house for about ten minutes.  Sage frowned as he retreated to his room, the dark rings under his friend's eyes worrying him.

"I'll go talk to him," Sage murmured, rising slowly to follow Rowen to his room.

Not bothering to knock, Sage slipped silently into his room, immediately closing the door behind him and sitting by Rowen.

"How are you holding up?" he asked softly, gripping Rowen's shoulder gently.

Staring numbly for a moment, Rowen looked over to him, his eyes glazed and accented with dark circles.  He was sweating slightly in the cool night, lank blue hair falling stubbornly into his eyes.  He only groaned in response, letting his head droop limply to his chest.

Sage tensed, the muscles through his back going rigid.  Taking a deep breath, he undid the cuff on his right wrist and rolled his sleeve up to his elbow, closing his eyes and presenting his bared arm to his friend.  He opened his eyes when Rowen jerked back in surprise, his face tightening stubbornly for a moment before he locked his jaw and turned his head away.

"Now look," Sage began, trying to sound firm.  "For two months I thought you were dead and it nearly killed me.  Now that you're back, I sure as hell am not going to let you starve.  It's been nine days at least."

Rowen scowled murderously at him, his eyes tightening in partial defeat.  He shook his head slowly and turned away again, arms crossed resolutely across his chest.  Sage noticed his friend's trembling shoulders and pushed on.

"Come on, Rowen.  I don't mind," he said, trying not to choke on the lie.

Staring at the floor with a strained expression, Rowen glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.  Sage tried not to squirm under the cold gaze.  He held out his arm again.

Rowen shook his head jerkily.  Sage was about to start arguing again when he spoke up quietly.

"Not like that," Rowen said in a voice not even a whisper.

Sage had to struggle not to stiffen.  "Okay, then what?" he managed to ask in a partially steady voice.

Rowen sighed heavily.  "There are only certain places that…" he trailed off for a moment, turning to stare at the floor again.  "Take off your shirt."

Struggling to quell his trembling, Sage did as he was told, peeling off his dress shirt and undershirt.  "Now what?" he asked softly when Rowen didn't look up.

Glancing at the closed curtains and door, he sighed again.  "Stand up and turn around," he said weakly.

Obeying quickly lest he loose his nerve, he nearly jumped out of his skin when Rowen placed one hand on his shoulder.  He must have jerked, because Rowen withdrew his hand and stepped back.  Sage heard him moving away.

"Please, Rowen," he grated out between clenched teeth, unable to open his eyes.

"Are you sure?"  The whisper barely reached his ears, but he nodded resolutely.

He tried not to jump this time when Rowen moved up behind him.  Well-defined arms wrapped around his arms and chest, nearly causing him to wet himself.  He was not surprised when he felt Rowen trembling slightly, knowing that if the situation were reversed, he wouldn't be doing any better.  Sage squeezed his eyes shut and did the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.  He tilted his head sharply to the left.

Feeling a hot breath on his neck, Sage clenched his hands into fists, struggling fiercely with himself to keep from pulling away.  He vaguely heard Rowen take a deep breath to steady himself.  Gentle lips met his neck where it joined his shoulder.  Feeling his lower jaw begin to quiver in terror, he firmly reminded himself that this was his best friend and that he needed his help.

A stinging pain sank into his skin, nearly causing him to lose it on the spot.  The sharp burning was immediately replaced by a warm tingling sensation that slowly began to spread across his chest and through his body.  There was no pain, only the warm sensation that continued to grow, causing him to relax completely.  The muscles through his body loosened gradually until his arms and head hung limply, a slight smile twisting the corners of his mouth as the warmth intensified slightly.

Sage didn't know how long he stood like that before his knees buckled unsteadily, nearly depositing him to the floor.  Strong arms tightened around him, holding him upright as the world began to tilt wildly.  A soft stinging pain shot through his shoulder for a moment before fading again, leaving only the soft surging warmth.

He thought he heard his name being called, but wasn't sure.  He was vaguely aware that he was half being led, half being dragged, across the room to be deposited onto something soft.  Something gripped his face gently and he struggled to force his eyes to focus, failing miserably when he was unable to concentrate past the rolling of the world around him.

Sagging to the side, Sage encountered something warm, almost burning against his cool skin.  He closed his eyes as his head drooped, pressing his cheek contentedly against someone's chest, listing to the heartbeat for a few seconds before he was pushed gently into a sitting position.  A cool hand slid under his chin, raising his head slightly.  When released, he allowed his head to sink back to his chest lethargically.

Something soft was being draped around his shoulders.  Sighing, Sage numbly reached up to grasp the soft cloth that greeted his searching fingers.  Hearing his name called out softly, he tried to focus his eyes, failing again.  The heat surging through his veins fluctuated suddenly and vanished, causing him to flinch and gasp softly.

Blinking slowly, Sage brought his eyes into focus for what seemed like the first time in hours, glancing around in confusion.

"Are you okay?" Rowen's worried voice snapped him into full awareness.  Sage jerked his head up and stared at his friend blankly for a moment.

"Oh God, Sage, I'm sorry.  Are you okay?"

Flinching slightly, he lurched to his feet and staggered over to the nearest mirror, raising one disbelieving hand to his throat.  Running fingers jerkily over two half healed holes where his neck met his shoulder, he turned to face Rowen, still swaying slightly.

"Yea, I'm fine," he stammered.  "You feeling any better?"

Rowen made a face.  "Not enough to justify putting you through that."

"I'm okay," he said, a little more firmly this time.  "Just shocked.  That felt… incredible."  Rowen's head snapped up suddenly.

"What?" he asked a touch incredulously.

"It actually felt… nice," he murmured, grinning ruefully at Rowen's blank expression, understanding how strange that must have sounded.

Shrugging back into his shirt, he plopped down on the bed beside his friend, waiting for him to say something.  Rowen looked at him and grimaced.

"Mieren's never done that before," he muttered, staring at the floor again.

"Done what?"

"You were just sitting there blankly for about five minutes, not moving or responding to anything.  I thought that I had hurt you," Rowen whispered, closing his eyes slowly as his shoulders drooped.

"I'm really okay," Sage said reassuringly, squeezing his friend's shoulder as he stood up to leave, realizing that Rowen wanted to be alone.

He was almost to the door when Rowen cleared his throat softly.

"Thank you, Sage," he whispered to the floor, shoulders quivering.  Sage didn't respond, slipping out into the hall and towards the kitchen.

*     *     *

Ryo stumped up the stairs slowly, suddenly feeling a strong urge for a steaming shower.  Walking dejectedly down the hall, he was about to swing into the bathroom when he heard Sage's pleading voice.

"Please, Rowen."

He tensed immediately, never having heard Sage beg like that.  Slipping soundlessly towards the door to their room, he cracked the door silently, peeking in on the two, freezing at the horrifying sight that met his eyes.

Sage was standing trembling, Rowen holding his arms pinned to his sides from behind, his head at Sage's throat.  Sage began to sway slightly, sagging limply in Rowen's arms after a few seconds, the only thing keeping him off of the floor was the other boy's firm grip on him.

Ryo was about to charge in and beat Rowen into submission, but paused when he heard Rowen whisper Sage's name softly.  Shaking the limp form in his arms, he headed over to the bed, setting him down gently before promptly freaking.

Backing up silently before he was noticed, Ryo closed the door silently behind him and stumbled back to the living room mindlessly.  He wasn't aware that the others were around him until he was pushed onto the couch.  He blinked suddenly, forcing his mind to pay attention to what his friends were saying.

"Ryo?  You okay?" Kento asked.  "You're whiter than Rowen."

"What happened?" Cye asked gently, shaking his shoulder to get his attention.  Mia plopped down beside the two, watching him worriedly.  He was so shaken that it took him a few minutes to clear his mind enough to stammer out a few words.

"Rowen…" he murmured, eyes glazing again.  "He… bit Sage."

Kento was on his feet running for the stairs instantly, nearly running down Sage in his haste to get upstairs.  Sage only made a face at him before wandering into the kitchen, oblivious to his friends' incredulous stares.

Cye was the first to recover, darting into the kitchen after him.  Sage only looked up for a moment when he came in before proceeding to root through the fridge, pulling out several plates of leftovers and heading to the dining room, not bothering to heat his food.  Blinking numbly, Cye followed him.

"Sage," he began slowly, "are you okay?"

Sage blinked at him in confusion.  "Yea.  Why do you ask?"

Clearing his throat, Cye wondered how he should phrase his next sentence.  "Ryo said that Rowen bit you," he stammered.  Sage froze.

"Doesn't anyone know how to knock?" he grumbled, staring fiercely at the table before continuing with his meal.

"Well?" Cye prompted.

Swallowing nervously, Sage made a point of not looking at the younger boy.  "Well… I offered."

Cye nearly fell out of his chair, eyes bulging.  "You _what_?"

"He hasn't eaten in nine days, Cye.  It was slowly killing him," he mumbled in his friend's defense.  "I practically had to force him into it though."

Scrubbing one hand through his reddish brown hair, Cye stood up and backed out of the room slowly, eyes wild.  Tearing back into the living room, he had to pause for a moment to gather his jumbled thoughts.

"It's okay," he muttered in a quavering voice, trying to calm himself and failing miserably.  "Sage offered."

"WHAT?!" Ryo and Kento cried out in unison.

"I'm not deaf, you know," Sage called from the next room.

"Has he lost his mind?" Ryo hissed, eyes bulging.

Cye shook his head.  "He was worried about Rowen.  Said something to the effect that Rowen was slowly starving to death."  They sat in silence, Mia and the Ronins paling slowly, each wondering if they could have brought themselves to do the same thing, all four of them deciding that they couldn't.

When Sage finished his meal, he wandered into the living room only to be immediately tackled by Kento.  Ryo grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it back forcefully, inspecting his neck with quivering fingers.

"Let me up!" Sage wailed, bucking unsuccessfully.

"What's going on here?" an amused voice called from behind them.

"What are you doing to poor Sage?" another familiar voice wailed dramatically.

Craning his head at a wild angle to see behind him, Sage caught sight of Kayura and Cale hovering a little way back from the struggling boys.  Using the distraction in his favor, Sage slipped free of Kento and Ryo and hid behind the two visiting former Warlords for protection.

"Can we join in?" Dais called out cheerfully, lifting the startled boy over his head, earning himself an indignant yelp.

"Put me down!"

"Didn't you want to be up just a second ago?" Sehkmet smirked, poking him in the ribs from where he hung helplessly.

"How about this?  Leave me alone before I kill the whole lot of you!"

The commotion downstairs caught Rowen's attention.  Slipping down the stairs slowly, he blinked in surprise at the presence of the Warlords, remembering that Ryo had told him that they had found a place of their own.

Smiling deviously when he wasn't noticed, he slipped around the edge of the room on his toes, positioning himself behind the four visitors.  Sage saw him and winked merrily in his direction from his precarious perch above Dais, preparing to catch himself, knowing full well he was about to be dropped.

Sneaking up right behind the four Warlords, Rowen drew a deep breath.  "Hey guys!  How're you doing?"

The results were better than he had expected.  Dais dropped Sage face-first into the floor, who went into a smooth roll to escape the ensuing chaos.  Sehkmet and Cale jumped into the air before trying to climb each other to escape him.  Kayura took one look at him and fainted.

"Rowen, that wasn't nice," Mia tried to admonish, her attempted scowl quickly degenerating into helpless giggles.

"I thought you were dead!" Dais wailed, backing away a few paces.  Cale glared over at him from where he was supporting a half-conscious Kayura.

"You can't ever tell with these idiots," Sehkmet chortled, having already recovered from his shock.

"How did you manage that anyway?" Cale asked slowly as Kayura fully awakened, tottering slightly.

Rowen grimaced before deciding to have some fun with them since they were bound to find out sooner or later.  He grinned widely, flashing his elongated canines at the four Warlords who had just recovered.  Kayura fainted again, the others backing away with ever-paling faces.

"That's still not nice," Mia snickered.

Helping to pull Kayura to her feet, he grinned ruefully at the three men regarding him in utter horror, careful not to show his fangs this time.

"Have you spoken to Anubis recently?" Ryo asked before Rowen proceeded to terrorize them further.  Dais shook his head quickly.

"Why?"

"We were wondering if he had seen Mieren," Cye said hesitantly, proceeding to explain everything to the pale Warlords.

"I've been thinking about going after her," Rowen murmured, staring fiercely at the floor.  "She said she'd be back quickly."

Kento flinched at the pain in his friend's face.  "I agree with him, for once.  I say we go to Mieren's dimension and find her."

Ryo and Sage didn't hesitate before nodding agreement.  Cye made a face before giving in, looking up to the Warlords expectantly.

"Remind me not to visit you guys again," Kayura muttered before announcing that she would go too.  The other three only nodded slowly.

"When do we leave?" Cale asked slowly, taking charge of the group of Warlords.

Looking around the room, Rowen nodded slowly and grabbed his heavy cloak before spinning to face the others.  White Blaze trotted into the room at his mental summoning.  "Now."

*     *     *

It was decided that White Blaze would stay behind after a short discussion between the ten people in the room.  Mia wanted him to go with the guys, but they pointed out that with a war raging in the other dimension, some strange things might be coming across to their dimension and she needed protection of some sort.

The sea blue flames winked out behind them for the second time in so many minutes as they stepped into a grassy clearing.

Rowen immediately vanished into the darkness, calling to them to stay where they were as he left, the eight warriors squirming impatiently as the seconds ticked by.  Rowen's sudden reappearance nearly unhinged them.

"There are around three dozen dark elves and almost a score of demons milling around in the area.  I'm certain that these demons aren't any that we want to encounter," he murmured as he drew nearer, eyes still glowing crimson.

The other Ronins only looked at him for a moment before shifting their eyes and peering around worriedly.  The Warlords only drew in on themselves, alternately cursing and looking for somewhere to hide.

"This way, I think," Rowen whispered, starting out in a direction slowly.  Each of the Ronins snagged one of the virtually blind Warlords before they started forward after their friend.  Dais tried to start a conversation once, but Rowen's furious glare silenced him immediately, sending the older man ducking behind Sage for protection.

Cale tried not to snicker at the white-haired man as he followed Ryo awkwardly through the night.  Even his uncanny ability to see in the dark was compromised in the blackness.  To him, the surrounding area looked like it was etched in starlight on a mostly cloudy night, telling him that the other three wouldn't be able to make out shapes any further than a few feet from them.

Every now and then, a grunt rang out softly in the darkness as Kento and Sehkmet engaged a ribbing competition, leaving masses of bruises along each of their chests.  Cye grinned at them, grateful that Kayura wouldn't be giving him problems like that.

After traveling for most of the night, Rowen pulled them into a thick grove of trees, settling down for a short rest.  The others slumped to the ground gratefully, the Warlords panting softly and grumbling something about 'damn youths' and 'not respecting ancient bones' roughly in Rowen's direction.  He grinned at them, knowing perfectly well that whatever they were saying wasn't complimentary.  Sighing and leaning back, he glanced over to Sage.

"You must realize that once the sun rises, I'm going to be virtually helpless."

"You mean you're not now?" Sehkmet smirked.

Rowen glared at him.  "I may not be able to walk.  You might have to take turns carrying me."

Sehkmet blinked slowly.  "You're serious?" he murmured.

Starting slightly, Rowen looked at him in amazement.  "You don't know what happened to me?" he asked somewhat incredulously.

When he didn't answer, Dais spoke up for him.  "You're like the others now, aren't you?"

Scrubbing one hand through his hair, he shook his head slowly.  "That is _not_ what the fangs signify," he muttered.

Cale was the first to catch on to what the younger boy was trying to say.  "Ah… you mean that they exist in this dimension?"  Rowen nodded.  Cale leaned over and whispered something to the others.  Four wary gazes were immediately leveled in his direction, much to his irritation.

No one was given a chance to ask him any questions.  A few rays of light peeked over the distant mountains, sending Rowen scrambling into his heavy cloak and gloves.  The Ronins looked at each other worriedly when he groaned softly and moved to the deeper shadows of the trees for a moment before starting out again.  The others had no choice but to scramble after him.

They continued at the same grueling pace that they had been maintaining through the night for around another two hours before Rowen began to stagger and slow.  Declining help, he continued forward, tripping often and cursing weakly.

Lips clamped between his teeth, Sage moved forward to walk beside his best friend for a moment before shucking his shoes and jeans to shift into a centaur.  Rowen made a face at him from under his hood, but allowed himself to be carried.  After a few minutes he slumped across Sage's back, panting hoarsely and occasionally groaning or twitching, urging Sage to keep moving whenever he slowed down.  He managed to hold on to consciousness for another five hours before passing out and nearly landing face first on the rocky ground below.

Grumbling softly, Sage led them off of the worn path into the trees, trying to get Rowen out of the sun as much as possible.  Not bothering to shift back, he dropped down beside his unconscious companion and healed him quickly, glancing at Cye worriedly.

"The sun isn't charring his skin, but it's still hurting him.  He said that it still burns almost as badly as before.  What he doesn't know is that it's slowly killing him," Sage murmured, glancing worriedly at his trembling friend.

"Tell me you're kidding," Cye muttered, dropping to the grass beside them.  "I thought that I had helped, some anyway."

"You did.  You increased the amount of time it takes for the sun to kill him."

Cye made a face and began thinking frantically, reviewing his huge inventory of spells carefully before sighing and shaking his head.  "I don't know anything else I can do for him."

They remained hidden in the trees until nightfall, Kento and Sehkmet glancing around hungrily and poking through the vegetation hopefully.  They managed to revive their unconscious friend once the sun had set entirely, the blue-haired youth immediately vanishing into the trees again.

Rowen returned after a few minutes, setting his cloak on the ground gently.  Tossing the thick fabric back, he revealed a large collection of various fruits and a dozen eggs over the size of baseballs.  Kento hugged him fiercely before attacking the food, he and Sehkmet disgusting the others by poking a hole in the end of their eggs and swallowing the contents raw.  The others made faces and handed their eggs over to Ryo, who held them in his hands for a moment before passing the things back, fried within the shells.  Even with the appetites of eight healthy warriors, a heap of fruit was left, Rowen having had gathered nearly thirty pounds of the stuff.

"Where did you find all that?" Kento burped happily as they started moving again, trotting beside the taller boy.

"I haven't been here two months without learning a few things."

"But there are no fruit trees," he argued.  Rowen only grinned.

Picking out a tree after a moment's study, he placed one hand on the trunk and concentrated for a moment.  One of the lowest limbs descended to within their reach, heavy fruit appearing on the proffered branch.  Rowen grinned and gathered the few pieces produced upon his request, holding them up triumphantly before adding them to the pile they hadn't eaten.  Incredulous glances passed around the group.

They followed the trails for the rest of that night, dropping to rest at the onset of dawn for almost an hour.  They started down the paths again with Rowen slumped across Sage, barely hanging onto consciousness, stopping to rest in the early afternoon.

Kento came up with an ingenious solution to their problem with the light on the second day when they stopped early in the afternoon, slamming out a hole in the ground with his mind to stuff Rowen into.  After a few minutes of questioning, Kento opened a huge cavern beneath them, sealing it protectively closed behind them only leaving a few tiny holes for ventilation.  Safely hidden and protected, they didn't bother to post sentries as they slept.

When the sun began to set, Rowen jerked awake, startling the Warlords horribly when he went from oblivion to total alertness in two seconds flat.

They followed this pattern for nearly a week, Rowen growing more desperate and run down by the day.

*     *     *

On the sixth day while they were resting comfortably in the cool shade provided by the ground, Sage moved over to Rowen, speaking to him softly.  Rowen shook his head forcefully and tried to go back to sleep, irritating Sage to no end.

Joining the others Sage slumped to the ground wearily.  He was almost asleep when he heard Ryo whispering softly to him.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing.  Don't worry about it."

"Let me guess.  You're worried that Rowen hasn't eaten in about six days and were unable to get him to do anything about it.  Right?"

Sage's answering flinch was all Ryo needed to see to get his answer.

After the sun set, Ryo doggedly followed Rowen when he went out hunting for the proper types of trees to gather fruit, raiding strangely large nests on occasion.  After Rowen was well away from the others, Ryo made his presence known, clearing his throat softly.  Rowen jumped and spun to face him.

"Damn it, Ryo.  Don't sneak up on me like that.  You're lucky I turned to see who was there before attacking."

"Sorry.  We're just worried about you, Rowen.  You haven't been eating anything and it's freaking out Sehkmet and Dais horribly.  Kayura and Cale aren't responding much better.  The only reason that we're not eyeing you sideways is because we know you so well."

"Your point being?" Rowen drawled.

"Just beyond your grasp," Ryo countered, making a face at his friend.

Rowen snorted and hopped up into the branches of a rather large tree, returning after a moment with something that vaguely resembled a twenty-pound falcon hanging limply from his hands.

"You have to eat, Rowen," Ryo said doggedly, narrowly avoiding being landed on when Rowen leapt out of the upper branches with the bird in his hands.

"Sure, right," he muttered sarcastically, heading vaguely in the direction of camp.

Ryo stepped in his way, crossing his arms over his chest.  Rowen tried to sidestep him, but Ryo stayed determinedly in his way, eyeing his friend sharply.

"You're losing weight," he snapped softly, eyes flashing.

Rowen tensed.  "There's not much I can do about it," he hissed, matching Ryo glare for glare.  His eyes widened and he stepped back when Ryo shucked off his shirt.

"Well?" he prompted, grinding his teeth.  If Sage could do this, then so help him, so could he.

"No way," Rowen growled, trying to move around him again, succeeding this time when he tripped Ryo to get him out of the way.  He hadn't made it more than two paces past his friend when a huge black wolf in blue jeans jumped in his path, ruby eyes flashing.  Making a face, he started to lift into the air, freezing when Ryo brought out his wings and moved to follow.

Sighing, Rowen landed silently.  "I'm fine, Ryo.  Drop it."

Ryo shifted back and began looking around for his shirt and shoes.  "No way, Rowen.  You're not getting out of this.  You haven't eaten in six days."

He stiffened.  "Sage told you?"

"No, he didn't.  I walked in on you."

"Learn to knock," Rowen snarled, trying to push past him.

Sighing, he tried Sage's method.  "Please, Rowen."  He froze, shoulders tensing for a moment before he shook his head and started moving again.

Ryo snagged his friend's arm and forcefully lifted him off of the ground and moved a little ways further from camp with his captive cursing and kicking at him.  Setting down Rowen, he tossed his shirt to the ground and pried the filled cloak out of his friend's furious grip, crossing his arms and setting his jaw stubbornly.

"Just leave me alone, Ryo," Rowen whimpered, staring blankly into the night.  "You couldn't possibly understand how hard this is."

"What I understand is that one of my friends is dying because he's being to ornery to accept his friends' help."  He flinched at the murderous glare that Rowen threw him, but stood his ground.

Glaring angrily at the ground for a moment, Rowen moved forward with unnerving speed, slipping behind Ryo and pinning his arms to his side.  Ryo only had time to gasp before the world spun wildly and went black.

Ryo groaned and tried to push himself off of the ground, his head pounding painfully.  Sinking back to the ground after swaying unsteadily on his knees for a moment, he opened his eyes and tried to look around, groaning and closing his eyes again when the world spun wildly.

Gentle hands pulled him into a sitting position.  "Are you okay, Ryo?" Sage's worried voice came from directly behind him.

Forcing his eyes open, Ryo looked around uncertainly.  He was lying in the center of camp, seven worried faces regarding him carefully.  Running his hands through his hair, he groaned again.

"You pissed off Rowen, didn't you?"

Glaring angrily at Sage, he struggled to his feet and began looking around for his shirt, shivering in the cool night.

"What makes you say that?" he grumped, glaring around.

"Well, for starters," Sage murmured, tapping the side of his neck gently.  Ryo jumped and raised one hand jerkily to his throat, paling at the two half healed holes his fingers encountered.

"That and Rowen just dumped you here unconscious before disappearing," Cye added, looking around in the blackness with ruby eyes for a moment.

"How long has he been gone?" Ryo demanded, trying to get his bearings straight.

"Almost an hour," Kayura mumbled, squinting in the direction they had been heading for the last week.  Ryo swore loudly.

"He's not coming back.  We need to catch up with him."

Cale and Sehkmet jumped.  Dais only gaped in his direction.

"Why?" Sehkmet cried out in shock.  "After what he did to you…"

Ryo growled and stumped off in the direction they had been heading for the last six days, shifting his eyes to crimson as he stormed through the darkness, ignoring the burning hunger clawing insistently at his stomach and mind.  There was a mad scramble as the others grabbed the food and their few possessions to race after him, unwilling to lose another member of their group.

To Be Continued…

Sorry about the delay in posting time.  I'm a bonehead and I forgot that I was supposed to be fighting the format and reposting this.  Still, R&R!


	4. Part 4

Obsidian Fires

Part 4

By Mieren

Rowen slid through the shadows with an eerie grace, attaining impossible speeds now that he was no longer hindered by a group.  He ground his teeth, grateful that the others weren't around to remind him of what he was now.  He slipped deeper into the night when he heard something approaching.  Narrowing his crimson eyes, he watched silently as the small group of elves passed by him, the dark forms falling in around something that he couldn't quite make out.  Shifting to get a better view of those passing him, he tensed suddenly when he recognized the thing they were escorting, thanking the light guarding this dimension that they hadn't seen him.  The dark elves were no problem, but the thing with them was not something he had any wish to encounter.

*     *     *

The eight warriors tore recklessly down the trails, Ryo in the lead.  The Warlords stumbled along blindly, unable to see where they were putting their feet to run with any speed or grace.  The staggered to a halt when Ryo skidded to a stop on his face, swearing loudly at something in the trail.  Cye moved over to what Ryo had tripped on, flipping over the body of a dark elf, back broken in over half a dozen places.

"Shit," Cye muttered, stepping away from the corpse to look ahead in the night.

"Not another one," Sage groaned, pushing his hair out of his face.

"What do you mean 'another one'?" Kento demanded, eyes widening.

"You guys haven't been paying attention," Sage reprimanded sharply, glaring at the other three Ronins.  "The Warlords I can excuse for blindness, but you guys need to watch your surroundings.  We've passed at least seven other corpses like that one."

"When was that?" Ryo snapped, pushing himself to his feet.

"There's one or two every so often if you watch."

Cale panted heavily, managing to catch his breath with surprising speed.  "I don't like this," he murmured.  "Whatever killed these elves tore them apart with its bare hands.  I saw one of the others when we passed it.  His head was on backwards."

Sage paled.  "I didn't see that one."

Cye jumped back from the corpse suddenly, face grim.  "You guys aren't going to like this," he hissed, paling further.  The others gathered around the corpse, blanching one by one as they saw what had frightened the youngest Ronin.  Two small holes shone wetly from the side of the dark neck.

*     *     *

The dark elves scattered at the sounds approaching them.  Either a small army was heading down the road, or a few drunken individuals were slamming into every tree on the way down the trail.  Shrinking back into the foliage and shrubbery, they watched warily as a group of seven men and one woman darted by in the night, none of which were armed.  Waiting until they were out of earshot, the dark elves jumped out of hiding.

Bouncing a few unintelligible phrases and questions between themselves, they started following the group that had passed, a lumbering shadow following the score of tiny warriors to see what prey they had found for him.

*     *     *

Sage froze, spinning wildly on his toes to look around frantically.  It took a moment for the others to realize that he wasn't following and wander back to him.

"Hey, Sage.  What's wrong?" Kento asked softly, peering around into the night.

"Something's following us," he whispered, the hairs on the back of his neck rising slowly.  "It's not happy to see us either."

Cye peered behind them carefully.  "I don't see anything."

"I don't care," Sage hissed, backing up a few steps.  "Transform.  We need to leave.  Fast.  Now."  Acting on his last words, he shucked off his jeans and transformed quickly, pulling Cale onto his back immediately, followed by Sehkmet and Dais.  All three squirmed uncomfortably, but didn't say anything or move to get down.

Ryo and Kento followed suit more slowly.  Ryo lifted Cye onto his back, the younger boy clinging to him tenaciously as he tried to find a steady perch.  Kento walked over to Kayura hesitantly, motioning for her to get on.  She climbed on uncertainly, obviously wondering how she was supposed to hold on once they started moving.

Seeing the others seated, Sage took off, only looking back once to make sure the others were still behind him.  The three Warlords kept their balance with a practiced ease coming from countless years of riding horses, glancing back occasionally to squint vainly into the darkness.

Something large vaulted over the small group, causing them to pull up short as an enormous living shadow landed just in front of them.  Sage jumped wildly in agony, unseating one of the Warlords when something bit painfully into his back legs, effectively crippling him.  Refusing to wilt to the ground under an attacker, he lashed out powerfully with both hind legs, ignoring the burning pain shooting through his body.  He grinned wickedly when his hooves contacted something.

Dropping the remaining two Warlords to the ground as he suddenly shifted back, Sage adopted his wolf form, praying silently that the others were doing better than he was at the moment.

"Armor of Wildfire!  Dao Jin!"

Sage spun to dart over to Ryo so he could get a chance to call his own armor.  He blanched and nearly fainted when the red armor flickered around his friend gently before vanishing.  Ryo called to it again with no better results.

"Shit!" Dais cried out as steel bit into his ribs, staggering slightly before dropping to the ground right beside him.

Sage grimaced and tried to call his armor, throat tightening when it didn't respond any more than Ryo's had.  Kento roared in a deep baritone, startling everyone into a stunned silence for a moment.

*     *     *

Growling angrily at the moving shadow in front of him, Kento called upon the only power he was sure that was working at the moment, commanding the earth to smash the thing in front of him.  The ground rolled obediently, slamming its full power into its intended target as it had been ordered to do.  Kento grinned to himself as a tidal wave of stone crashed into the rolling darkness in front of him, choking on a curse when the thing shrugged off the blow and moved in on him.

Letting out a wordless roar of fury, he called upon the earth to swallow the thing utterly and hold the beast if it couldn't destroy it.  The ground complied, the entire area bucking wildly as it struggled to obey the command from the earth master.

*     *     *

Ryo struggled to maintain his balance when the ground beneath him began to shift and buck wildly.  Using the momentum of one of the waves, he launched himself into the stumbling dark elves, managing to drop three of them before they regained their balance enough to retaliate.  Squirming out of their reach, he spun seemingly at random to confuse his attackers, doubling back suddenly to take out a fourth shadowed figure.

He looked up suddenly, realizing that Sage and Cye were finishing off the last of the dark warriors.  Panting heavily, he spun to face Kento, paling at what he saw.

The living shadow had pitch black tentacles trailing from its undefined form, most of them reaching for Kento, who was jumping around wildly to avoid them.  Sage and Cye had already appropriated weapons from the fallen elves and moved forward to help.

Ryo shifted to join them, spinning when he heard Cale's agonized shriek echo through the night.  Darting over towards the fallen man, he slashed out with his claws at the thick black streamer that had snagged the older man's leg.  The blackness sent a bolt of energy through him, nearly dropping him on the spot.  Screaming in anguish, he struggle to jerk his hand back, succeeding at the cost of ripping out three of the claws on his right hand and two on his left.

"Don't touch it!" he screamed to the others as he staggered back.

Jumping away from the shadow, he snagged Cale's arms with bleeding hands, straining all of the muscles in his body as he tried to pull his friend free.  Cale pulled free with another shriek, trembling on the ground where Ryo finally deposited him.

Searching around wildly, he located where Dais had fallen early in the confrontation, battles raging around him as he lay unmoving on the damp earth.  He hissed in a cold fury when he was unable to locate either Kayura or Sehkmet in the confusion and chaos surrounding him.

Kayura bolted past him in the night, screaming for them to run.  It didn't take too long to figure out what she was running from.  An army of dark elves and demons began filtering out of the trees and surrounding landscape.

"Guys!  We need to leave!  NOW!"

Snagging the two Warlords under his arms, he checked quickly to make sure that the others were moving as commanded before bolting into the night with his two unconscious and injured companions.

*     *     *

Cye hunkered miserably in the dim light of the early morning, tears streaming from his eyes.  He had tried to lash out with spells in the fight, but none of his energies had been responding properly if at all.  He had tried to call his armor, but it didn't respond to his desperate cries.  He curled up tighter in the thick branches of what looked like an evergreen, calling out with his mind for the others, whimpering when he didn't get a response.

*     *     *

Kento glared at the rising sun angrily.  His ability to manipulate the earth hadn't responded as strongly as he had grown accustomed to.  After commanding it to trap the demonic shadow, the earth had stopped responding altogether for a few minutes after the strain of his extreme command, leaving him all but defenseless against the thing.  His eyes burned from pain and worry as he watched the last of the dark elves and demons wander away, unable to find their prey.

He waited for nearly thirty minutes to make sure they were gone before climbing out his precarious position clinging to the edge of one of the great cracks in the ground created by his furious attacks.  Hooking his fingers to a more secure position, he levered himself fully out of the fissure, tilting his head to dislodge the clump of dirt that had been hiding his unruly mop of bluish gray hair.

Glancing around one last time, he reached into the crevice to pull the unconscious green-haired idiot free of the tight area he had wedged him in.  Making a face, he slapped the older man angrily, struggling to force him to wake up.  Whatever that shadow thing was, it had hit Sehkmet, and he hadn't moved since Kento's earth attack had knocked him free.

Looking around warily, he called out for the others in his mind, grimacing when he didn't get a response.  Glaring at the unconscious Warlord on the ground as though it were his fault, he delivered a vicious kick to man's thigh, grinning at the answering groan.  As much as Sehkmet drove him up the wall, he was glad to see that he was still alive, being the only person in the group he knew the location of at the moment.

"Still alive and kicking, are we?" Kento smirked, earning himself a scowl.

"That hurts, you know."

"Really?  I never would have guessed."

Sehkmet made a face at him.  "Help me up."

"Get yourself up."

"Hells no.  I hurt."

"Why?  You didn't fight, you little pansy," Kento grinned, relenting and pulling the older man to his feet.  Sehkmet winced and peered around uncertainly, grimacing at his shredded shirt and bloody chest.

"Where are the others?"

Kento just shook his head wearily, eyes scrunched shut in concern.  He nearly jumped out of his skin when a slender figure dropped out of a tree in the distance, darting towards them in an all-out sprint.  Kento yanked a dagger out of his belt and held it ready, wishing fervently that he had his tetsubo or at least a good quarterstaff.  He relaxed when the figure came into view, reddish auburn hair contrasting sharply with pale skin.

"Cye!" he called out happily, replacing his knife in his belt as he moved forward to greet his best friend.  "Why didn't you respond to my sending?"

Cye skidded to a halt beside him, blinking uncertainly.  "I never heard anything.  You didn't respond either, you know."

_Cye, can you hear me?_ Kento called loudly in his mind, cursing loudly when his friend didn't respond in the slightest.

"Something is very wrong here," he said aloud.  "Our armor won't respond and we can't hear each other telepathically.  Only my powers of manipulating the earth seemed to be working in that last fight."

Cye nodded slowly.  "I can't cast any spells, Kento.  Other than you being able to transform and smash stuff with the ground, we're completely helpless."

Blinking slowly, Sehkmet kicked Kento in the shin and then grabbed his head experimentally.  A deep forest green glow flickered unsteadily around his hands for a moment as he concentrated, ignoring Kento's complaining.

Pulling back, Sehkmet grinned weakly.  "I can still heal somewhat.  That's something," he murmured.

"You didn't have to kick me," Kento grumped.  "I already had enough bruises and cuts for you to work with."

"I know that.  I just thought it was my turn," he chortled.

Groaning, Cye separated them before they started pounding on each other for real, glaring meaningfully.

"We need to find the others, not spend all day bickering like children," he snapped, heading for the path they had all been following.  "If I know the others, they'll go back to the trail thinking that everyone else will do the same."

Sehkmet nodded slowly.  "One thing though," he muttered, waiting for the others to turn and listen.  "I've been trying to figure this out for a few days now.  Exactly why is there a trail in the middle of nowhere anyway?"

*     *     *

Ryo scanned the area continuously, afraid that someone would sneak up on him if he let his guard down even for a second.  He took a moment to glance at the two unconscious mounds lying on the earth not three feet from him, neither moving.

Sighing, he dropped down to check the bindings he had placed around Dais's ribs, wincing at the blood seeping through the bandages.  Cale wasn't as bad, but all of the skin on his left leg had been ripped off from his knee down.

Grimacing he settled down warily to wait for them to wake up.  His eyes burned with guilt as he looked around numbly for the others, calling out to them with his mind.  If he hadn't upset Rowen enough to drive him off and then insisted that they chase after him recklessly like a bunch of idiots, this wouldn't have happened.  Now they were scattered, injured, and almost defenseless in a dimension they knew nothing about.

A pained groan snapped him out of his guilt trip.  Shifting slightly, he turned to see Cale pushing himself weakly to a sitting position, face twisted in agony as he moved his injured leg slightly.

"You okay?" Ryo asked softly, recognizing the stupid question for what it was.

Cale blinked tears out of his eyes as he looked blankly at the bloody wrappings around his left leg from knee to ankle.  "I don't think so.  What happened?"

"That shadow thing snagged your leg and I pulled you free, depriving you of the skin on your leg in the process.  Dais was slashed by one of the dark elves.  He has a nice gash running along his ribs."

Grimacing in pain, he only nodded.  "And you?"

Ryo grimaced.  "I think I got off a bit easier than either of you.  I'm only missing the tips of a few fingers."

"How'd that happen?"

"I tried to claw the shadow holding you and lost the last joint of five fingers when I pulled back."

Cale nodded slowly, eyeing Dais carefully.  "I don't think we should move him until we get someone to do something about his ribs.  Have you seen Sage or Sehkmet?"

Shaking his head, Ryo began studying the ground furiously.  "I haven't seen anyone.  I'm not even sure if anyone else survived.  I can't sense their presence or contact them through telepathy."

Cale made a face.  "I wouldn't go by that.  I can't sense _your_ presence, and you're not more than a few feet from me.  I think that had something to do with our armors not responding, seeing as how that's how we used to figure out where the others were."

Sighing, Ryo nodded helplessly.  "Can you do anything?"

"I don't think so.  When my armor didn't answer to my calling it, I tried using my other powers, but they didn't respond either.  I think we're fairly screwed."

"Nice of you to put it so delicately," Ryo muttered, looking around again.  "We can't stay here, though.  If the others are out there, we have to find them."

Walking over slowly, Ryo pulled Cale to his feet, helping him balance on one foot for the moment.  Shifting back to a wolf, he lifted Dais gently to his back before slowly backing underneath Cale, who was more than glad to sit back down.

Gripping Dais securely in his arms, Cale tested his balance carefully.  Seeing that the older man would be unable to hold on while keeping his unconscious friend upright, Ryo spread his wings slowly, wrapping them around Cale's back one at a time at rather awkward angles, hoping to keep the two on his back seated when he started moving.  Starting forward slowly, Ryo tried not to limp as he moved slowly towards the trail they had been on for the last week, hoping that the others would do the same.

*     *     *

Kayura blinked in the early morning light, squinting in the deeper shadows to follow the blood trailing through the trees.  She partially hoped that it would lead to an enemy instead of one of her friends, unable to bear the thought of any of the others bleeding that profusely.  She froze when the blood trail suddenly ended in the middle of a small clearing, unable to see anyone in the area.

Staring for a moment at the large pool of blood at the ending of the crimson trail, she was about to turn to leave when she noticed that a tree on the far end of the clearing was streaked with crimson.

Moving over to the bloody tree, she peered into the branches, paling when she made out a blond head amid the deep greenish blue foliage.  Swinging herself up into the limbs, she began climbing laboriously through the dense branches towards the boy, cursing softly under her breath.

Reaching forward, she placed one hand hesitantly on Sage's shoulder, growing worried when he didn't respond to her gentle grip.  Pulling herself up a few branches higher so that she was sitting on the same cluster of branches as the younger boy, she began to examine him more closely.

Sage didn't move during her gentle prodding, giving no indication that he knew Kayura was there.  Peering into his glazed eyes, she began to panic, realizing that he had lost far too much blood from some injury.  It only took a moment to find the deep trenches in the back of the boy's legs, bone showing clearly from one of the mauled appendages.  Swearing loudly, Kayura gathered him in her arms and started to climb back down the tree, wondering how he was still alive after this much time.

Leaving him lying at the base of the tree, Kayura rummaged around for things to build a fire, grateful that she knew how to do so from scratch.  Hating herself for what she was about to do, she began heating one of the knives she had taken from a fallen dark elf.  Snagging up the glowing blade, she edged over to where Sage was lying on his side, his arms wrapped around his chest limply as he shivered weakly.

"I'm sorry, Sage," she whispered as she pressed the glowing steel to the back of one of his legs.  He flinched slightly and whimpered softly in protest, but didn't move to fight back as the blade seared the deep laceration.  Prodding the fire and heating the blade once more, she did the same thing to his other leg, wishing that she had access to some real medical supplies.

Eyeing the barely closed flesh, she began to shred her cloak into strips, binding Sage's legs as tightly as she dared before lifting the unconscious boy across her shoulders, cursing softly at him for weighing so much.  Moving back towards the trail, she began to move painstakingly down the path, praying that she would find Sehkmet soon and hoping that he was up to healing the boy across her shoulders.

*     *     *

A dozen sets of ruby eyes watched a slender woman hauling an unconscious youth stagger past.  Pulling his cloak tighter, the leader of the small group signaled to the others, pulling them out of hiding as they began to trail the two helpless individuals.

*     *     *

Kayura tensed suddenly, looking behind her fearfully.  Someone was following her and was being quiet about it.  But not quiet enough.  Scowling in anger and helplessness, she quickly set Sage down and drew the foot long blade she had tucked firmly in her belt, glancing around wildly.

Immediately, figures cloaked in swirling greens and browns began dropping from the trees, weapons drawn and ruby eyes shining from within the deep hoods.  The slender figures formed a rough ring around the two and stood silently.  One of the cloaked individuals started forward slowly, single slender sword raised almost defensively.

Squirming uncomfortably, Kayura took a step back, eyeing his deadly movements and easy grace with a wary expression.  They were apparently making a game of this.  Toying with her.  The last set had simply charged them with the entirety of their numbers, not bothering with anything that resembled a fair fight.

The advancing shadowed warrior edged forward, pushing her another few steps back as she tried to avoid him.  He stopped moving toward her suddenly, motioning the others towards Sage, thoroughly infuriating Kayura.  Not bothering with her own safety any longer, she charged around the warrior holding her at bay, slamming his sword away from her as she passed.  Diving into a roll, she came to her feet beside Sage, slashing out at the nearest cloaked figure furiously with her knife, wishing for the tenth time in so many seconds that she had a sword.

The slender figure rolled away from her quickly, not returning her slash.  Standing protectively over Sage, Kayura raised her knife as threateningly as she could manage, scowling at the small group regarding her thoughtfully.

The one to have originally advanced on her snapped his sword into a sheath hidden beneath the billowing folds of his cloak and threw back his hood, revealing a young light elf with pale blue hair and startling silver eyes.  Jumping back from him, Kayura hesitantly replaced her knife in her belt, but continued to watch him warily.  The elf grinned at her ruefully, watching her hands carefully as she was watching him while he moved over to Sage slowly.

Not sure what she should do, having seen elves fight with them in destroying the Dynasty, she hesitantly allowed him to kneel beside the unconscious boy.  Peeking under one of the bandages wrapped around Sage's legs, he called something to the others, sending them running to obey whatever he had said.  Within a matter of seconds, the elves had organized with surprising discipline, tying a cloak between two long branches securely.  Four of the slender forms moved forward to lift Sage gently into the crude litter, each snagging a corner and darting off with the unconscious youth.

Yelping in a fury, Kayura raced after them, ignoring the nonsense that the leader was spouting at her.  Pushing past a few of the slender elves, she tried to reclaim Sage, the blue-haired elf catching her arm and gibbering insistently.  She made a face at him and shrugged free of his grip, being much larger and stronger than the skinny five-foot elf.  He caught her arm again and snapped something at her almost angrily, blinking at the confused expression she leveled in his direction.

The leader made a face of extreme concentration, raising his head slowly as he regarded her in careful consideration.

"Kayura?" he asked slowly, brows knotting questioningly.

Kayura jumped before nodding numbly.  "How did you know that?"

The blue-haired elf grinned, pointing to his ears.  "Cye Mouri."  Looking after the elves that had disappeared with the litter, he murmured, "Sage Date."

"So your leader spread our names around, did he?" Kayura muttered, making a face at the grinning elf.

Looking around carefully, he made a face.  "Cye?  Ryo?  Kento?  Cale?  Dais?  Sehkmet?  Anubis?"

Kayura shook her head, pointing back in the direction they had fought.  Leaning forward, she tweaked one of his pointed ears and pointed to the wicked blade in her belt.  The leader of the elves immediately paled considerably.  Kayura shook her head again, gesturing wildly as she tried to convey that the others had only scattered.  He nodded uncertainly and motioned for her to follow as he started down a trail that was almost unnoticeable from the main trail she had been on.

He stopped suddenly, gesturing towards a small hole in the ground.  Kayura only looked at him blankly.  He groaned, pointing first to her then the hole.  Making a face, she edged over to the narrow opening and peered into the black depths, frowning slightly and turning back to the elfin leader who continued to point to the hole demandingly.  Sighing, she lowered herself slowly into the blackness, dropping lightly when her feet found no solid footing beneath her.  Landing lightly on the balls of her feet, she squinted into the darkness and swore softly, looking back up to the light above and wondering how the hell they managed to get Sage down that short of dropping him.

A set of glowing red eyes appeared beside her, causing her to jump back and flatten herself against the wall.  She heard some mumbling followed by muffled laughter and realized that she had just become the butt end of some joke.  A guiding hand gripped her arm when it became apparent to the elves that she could not see in the dark, leading her forward through the endless tunnels.

After about half an hour of walking, they entered a softly glowing cavern that seemed bright to Kayura's light starved eyes.  Thousands of slender forms raced around, many of which threw incredulous glances in her direction.  The blue-haired elf holding her arm grinned at her blank expression and proceeded to lead her through the maze of underground buildings.  Losing track of where she was quickly, Kayura shrugged and took up looking around at the elegant buildings instead of watching where she was going.  Before she knew what had happened, she was shoved through a doorway of intricately carved marble inlaid with crystals and quartz.

Deciding that this was an important building, Kayura straightened her back and squared her shoulders, grinning as she realized that she topped the elfin leader by a few inches at the very least, and he was one of the taller elves here.  She idly wondered how they would respond to Sage, the boy towering over her by more than a head.  The thought of the injured boy sobered her up quickly, tears stinging her eyes as she looked at the thick mop of light bluish hair in front of her.

A small committee of ten middle-aged elves was waiting for her in a large, heavily decorated room.  When she arrived, a short blond began speaking quickly to the elfin leader with her, his dark golden eyes lighting up when Kayura's name was mentioned.  He grinned at her and moved to her side, gibbering wildly.  He cut off suddenly when the blue-haired elf said something quietly to him, probably having informed him that she didn't speak the language.  He made a frustrated face and began chewing his lower lip thoughtfully.

"Kayura?" he murmured, grinning hesitantly.  She nodded.

"Star storm scream?" he asked hopefully, pointing at a suit of armor decorating one of the walls.

"I must admit that you people have excellent memories," Kayura muttered as she shook her head.  He made a face and sighed.

He looked at her thoughtfully, eyes narrowing.  "Ronins?" he asked, pointing again to the suit of armor.  Kayura pointed to the suit of armor and shook her head.  He muttered something that she was sure was a curse before growling something to the others.  Kayura caught his attention by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Sage?" she asked pleadingly.  He paused and turned to the elfin commander that had brought her here.  The blue-haired elf nodded and led her out of the room.

They only walked for a few minutes before he led her into a simply designed building of polished gray granite.  Weaving through a few corridors, he paused and pointed through a thick glass window.

Peering through, Kayura gasped when she saw Sage laid out on a table, three elfin women and one man surrounding him, hands glowing in pale lavenders and blues.  Sage was lying on his stomach and looking around desperately with wild eyes, trembling slightly when he only saw the slender figures surrounding him.  Wincing, Kayura pointed to herself and to the room.

The blue-haired commander shook his head forcefully and pointed to a chair just off to the side of the doors.  Kayura set her jaw in a firm line and pointed to the room again, crossing her arms for emphasis and trying to glare.  He made a face, the two engaging in a contest of wills which Kayura won rather quickly, having quite a few years more experience at orneriness than did the elf.

Rolling his eyes and snorting wryly, he opened the door and escorted her over to the edge of the table.  Sage grinned widely upon seeing her and relaxed slightly, much to the relief of the four trying to work on him.

"How are you doing, Sage?" she murmured softly, taking one of his trembling hands in both of her own.

"I've been better," he muttered, relaxing completely and glancing over his shoulder.  "What's going on?"

"I found where you were hiding, and the elves found me as I carried your ass down the trail.  They recognized us from the battle with the Dynasty and brought us here when they saw you were hurt."

Sage nodded slowly, wincing when someone hit a nerve on his leg.  "It appears that they can still heal a little, but obviously not as well as they're used to.  It's probably related to what's been giving us problems."

"Yea, they seemed disappointed when I told them we couldn't call our armors, but not overly surprised."

"You can talk to them?" he said incredulously.

"Not a chance.  We've been pointing and using hand gestures like a bunch of drunken idiots."

Sage groaned and peered over his shoulder again.  "Do you know how much longer they're going to be?"

"How would I know?"

"Tell me how deep the lacerations are now, and I'll see if I can figure it out."

Grumbling, Kayura peered past the elves working on him, careful not to shift and irritate the blue-haired commander that was still making faces at her.

"About halfway there, I'd say," she murmured.

"How long have we been here?" Sage asked slowly, trying not to flinch.

"Only a few minutes."

"It seems like a bit longer to me," he grumped, jerking slightly and hissing over his shoulder.  "Would you please quit poking me?"

Kayura tried not to grin, knowing that the grumbling Ronin wouldn't appreciate it in the slightest.  Instead, she gripped his hand more firmly, trying to distract him from the pain of whatever they were doing to him.  She decided to distract him for real.

"You know," she drawled, grinning slightly.  "You didn't have any pants when I found you and you still don't.  I have a nice view from here as do the three women working on you."

Sage's face was suddenly aflame, causing the elves working on him to pause and peer at Kayura questioningly, obviously wanting to know what she had said to him.  Shrugging, they went back to work.  Sage only buried his burning face in his arms.  He winced when they touched a tender spot on his thighs.

"Hey Sage," Kayura murmured softly, getting him to raise his head to look at her.  "Would you like me to kiss it and make it better?"

Struggling to keep from blushing again, he grinned lecherously.  "Would you?"

For an answer, she thumped him on the head.  "You're as bad as Dais."

"I'm insulted!" he wailed softly, clutching at his heart as best as he was able while lying on his stomach.  Kayura grinned and thumped him again.

One of the elfin women snagged Kayura's arm and pulled her over to where she had been working, looking worried and pointing demandingly.  Blinking Kayura peered at what the woman was indicating and grinned, chortling merrily.  Reaching over, she thumped Sage on the top of his head for a third time.

"Hey idiot," she giggled, "quit trying to transform.  You're confusing the medics something awful."

Sage frowned over his shoulder, grinning slightly when he saw that he had unintentionally changed the joints in his legs.

"Umm… oops?" he offered, snickering softly as he shifted back, further confusing the poor elfin medics.  The elfin commander snorted and said something to the four working on him, who blinked in confusion before finishing their work.

Two sets of supporting hands grabbed Sage and pulled him off of the table, trying to get him to his feet.  Kayura snickered.

"You should ask them to let you stand on your own so that they could find you a pair of pants," she teased, causing him to redden again.

"I can fix that," he muttered, mortally embarrassed, shifting suddenly into a centaur and thoroughly terrifying every elf in the room except the commander.  The blue-haired elf only snickered along with Kayura.  He tossed out a command to one of the women before holding out his hand to Sage in a friendly greeting.  Sage shook his hand in wry amusement.

"Neris Kilumen," he murmured, grinning widely.

"That's his name, right?" Sage asked Kayura softly.  She just shrugged.  Sighing, he gave his name.  The commander only nodded.

"He already knows us," Kayura snorted.

Sage sighed.  "Neris, right?" he asked slowly.  The elf nodded and grinned.  "Okay, when can you get us out of here?  We need to find our friends."

"Like this," Kayura muttered when the elfin commander only looked at them blankly.  She pointed to herself and Sage then to the ceiling, calling out the names of a few of their companions.

Nodding, he led them out of the building, gathering a few packs from various elves as passed, passing a few to Sage and Kayura.  He stopped by one of the armaments, pointing to the shelves of weapons and armor there.

Kayura chose two swords and light chain mail for herself.  Looking around, she snagged a largish no-dachi and a set of long swords.  Making a face, she also picked out a broadsword and a set of knives, grumbling something about Dais always being difficult.

Sage grinned at her stream of insults and selected the largest no-dachi they had, passing over the heavy armor with a raised eyebrow, knowing that he wouldn't be able to stuff himself into any of it.  After a moment, he grabbed a set of twin swords and a staff with a blade at one end.  Looking a little harder, he found something that closely resembled a yari and took it too, along with a full suit of chain mail, mumbling something about Cye being small enough to wear it.

When Neris saw that they were done, he continued on, making a few quick stops at various buildings to snag a few more bags of things.  After a little while traveling, he showed them one of the larger openings to the surface, grinning as Sage shifted his eyes from golden to pale blue immediately when he first saw the light up ahead.

It only took him a minute to show them back to the trail they had been on, smiling contentedly.  Shrugging, Sage and Kayura hefted the bags they had been given and started moving again.  Sage blinked in confusion when the blue-haired elf trotted after them.  He slowed to see if he had forgotten something, glancing over to Kayura when Neris just stopped beside him and didn't try to communicate.

"Tell me he's not coming with us," Sage muttered.

"Well, he knows the way better than us and can probably fight some of the things here better than we can, so I don't see what it could hurt."

"Did you know about this?" he demanded, glancing at the grinning elf.

"No sooner than you did."

Spitting out something that Kayura was positive she didn't want to hear, they started down the trails once more, Neris occasionally pointing in a direction helpfully.  He urged them to speak constantly to each other and to him as they traveled, listening intently with a thoughtful expression.

*     *     *

Ryo staggered unsteadily, nearly depositing both of his passengers on the ground before catching himself.  Peeling his lips back from his teeth furiously, he forced his burning muscles to keep moving and tried to ignore the hunger clawing at his stomach.

Glaring ahead determinedly, he didn't hear Cale's worried question.  Cale caught his attention by poking him in the back of the head and began again.

"Are you sure you don't need to rest for a little while?"

"I'm fine," he snapped, eyes flashing.

"Are you sure about that?  Do you even know what you tripped on?"

Ryo blinked.  "There was something in the road?"

"Ah shit.  You really are wasted.  You just tripped over something that I think used to be a dark elf.  I don't know what it would be classified as now considering how many pieces it was in."

Craning his head over his shoulder, Ryo gaped at the mangled corpse that he had somehow managed to miss seeing despite the fact that he had tripped over it.  The body had been ripped cleanly in half at the waist and carelessly dropped by something that didn't leave footprints in the soft soil of the trail.

Blinking suddenly, he turned to view the trail behind him, paling at the bloody footprints he was leaving behind, the _only_ footprints on the trail.  Raising his head and straining his ears, he realized that all of the birds and insects had gone silent.

"Ah shit," he hissed, backing up a step.  "Something is following us."

"How can you tell?" Cale demanded, peering down the trail uncertainly.

Without bothering with a response, Ryo started down the trail at a leisurely pace.  After leaving a few more footprints in the damp soil, he leapt into the bushes and doubled back, knowing that his attackers would expect him to continue forward and away from them.  Hunkering down in a mass of thick bushes, he rolled gently onto his side, depositing his passengers without jarring them too badly.

Holding up one hand to tell Cale to stay put, he scooted closer to the trail, wriggling deep into the dark green foliage of the thick brush alongside the trail.  Almost immediately, a small group of dark elves darted past, snowy manes contrasting sharply with their ebony skin and crimson eyes.  A few mounts followed them, horrendous scaled creatures walking on two legs, the much shorter front legs sporting heavy muscles and long talons.  Long sinuous tails trailed menacingly behind the beasts, wicked barbs tipping the ridged lengths.  Ryo was willing to bet that they had sharp teeth as well.

Noting that there were only three elves with five mounts, Ryo stiffened, looking around wildly and straining his ears again.  There would be one on either side of the trail, no doubt.  Spinning silently and flattening his ears, he waited for the dark silhouette to pass by, launching himself out of hiding and snapping his neck before he could raise an alarm.  Looking up, he spotted the other on the far side of the trail.

Adrenaline destroyed his weariness as he slipped behind the elves on the trail and tackled their other scout silently.  Peeking over the bushes, he waited for the dark elf with the bow to look in another direction before moving.  Leaping out silently, he slammed into the elf with the bow, ripping out his throat before spinning to regard the other two.

Snagging the bow from the fallen form below him, he managed to fire off one shot before spinning the weapon clumsily in his hands to fend of the one standing dark elf and the five mounts.  Treating the bow like a club, he managed to crack the final elf in the temple, causing him to slide limply to the ground.

Unfortunately, the element of surprise didn't work as well on the mounts as it had on their riders.  One of his wings was immediately shredded beyond use, the other broken within the first few seconds of struggling.  Snarling deep within his throat, he launched himself at the nearest creature, latching onto its throat with his teeth as the thing sank its own fangs into his shoulder.  The struggle was over in moments.

Rolling heavily to his feet, he took off down the trail, cursing when he realized that the things were much faster than he was at the moment.

Deciding to rely on strategy, he jumped one of the nearest trees, rebounding viciously into the nearest creature, both of them thrashing around for a mere moment before Ryo viciously wrenched its long, sinuous neck backwards.

Calling upon his reserves of strength, he threw a third mount into the fourth and tackled the fifth, leaving when it was sufficiently disemboweled.  Not bothering with taking the final two individually, he leapt into the fray of tangled legs as the two beasts struggled to get to their feet.

Claws slashed across his face, the streaming blood nearly blinding him as he punched through the armored hide of the nearest beast with his fist, dropping it to the ground.  The final creature kicked at him with a hind foot, launching Ryo nearly twenty feet and leaving huge trenches in his side.  Ryo struggled to his feet as it neared, lurching sideways awkwardly as it lashed out with the barb on the end of its tail.

Leaping into the air to avoid the following slash, Ryo hissed in pain as he opened his wings to guide his fall, landing heavily on the back to the final mount.  Sinking his teeth into the leathery neck, he jumped back when he heard the satisfying crunch of bone.

Breath rasping painfully in his throat, he started back to where he had left Cale and Dais, collapsing in exhaustion and pain as he reached the area where he had hidden his friends.  He was only vaguely aware of Cale's worried voice from somewhere beside him as blackness swallowed him.

To Be Continued…

Evil format!  I had to scrounge this off an old floppy somewhere.  The main story died when the hard drive crashed.  I can't believe how stubborn this is being.  Oh well… R&R!


	5. Part 5

Obsidian Fires

Part 5

By Mieren

"I'm hungry," Kento whined loudly for the fifth time in so many minutes.

"So am I," Sehkmet seconded.

"Both of you, shut up," Cye snapped, scowling at the two idiots trailing him.

"Have pity," Kento wailed miserably.  "We haven't eaten since last night."

"I don't care," Cye growled, stomping down the trail furiously.  There was only so much stupidity a person could take before losing his mind, and the two following him were emitting levels of idiocy that he had never thought possible.  He had been listening to their bickering and whining for hours, and he had had enough.

"Can we at least take a short break?" Sehkmet pleaded, panting softly.

Sighing loudly, Cye led them a little ways off of the trail into the trees, knowing full well that they had to rest eventually.  This might even get the others to shut up for a few minutes.  Kento and Sehkmet immediately began to poke around in the bushes and nearby trees, arguing which ones might be edible.

"Don't touch _anything_," Cye hissed angrily.  "We don't know what is and isn't poisonous here."

"We at least need to find something to drink," Sehkmet said slowly, looking around.  "The water should be safe at least."

Cye groaned and got to his feet.  "This way," he murmured, weaving through the bushes nimbly, Sehkmet and Kento following blankly.  After a few minutes of walking, he came to a small clearing in the thick trees, a pile of dull gray rocks piled almost a foot deep decorating the center of the grassy area.

Moving to the closest rock, he pulled it out of the way, and lowered his hands into the black depths slowly.

"Uh, Cye?  What are you doing?" Kento asked worriedly.

Cye looked up at him with quirked eyebrows.  "You said you wanted water," he mumbled, pulling up a cupped hand filled with the icy liquid.  Kento and Sehkmet exchanged startled glances.

"How did you know that was there?" Sehkmet asked sweetly, eyes wide.

Making a face, Cye looked at his dripping hands thoughtfully, brows drawing down in confusion.  "I don't know," he said softly, still staring at his hands.  "I just knew.  I could almost hear the water calling to me."

By the end of his last sentence, Cye's voice had lowered to a whisper, his eyes glazing slightly as he continued to stare blankly at his hands.  Kento made a face and sat down beside him, slurping noisily at the water from within the pile of stones.

"Your element, I guess," Kento muttered.  "I can control the earth, so this kind of makes sense.  Doesn't it?"

Cye nodded slowly, looking up to Sehkmet.  "What about you?"

"I don't think I can do anything beyond healing," he muttered, shoving Kento roughly out of the way to get at the water.  Kento squawked indignantly and pegged him with a rock.  A big rock.  Sehkmet was about to return fire when Kento's eyes glazed over, the younger boy staring off into the trees with a slow grin building on his face.

"What is it?" Cye asked, straining his ears without success.

"Can't you smell that?" Kento drooled, eyes lighting up.  "It's food."

Sehkmet sniffed the air immediately, a grin spreading across his face.  "You're right," he chirped, jumping to his feet.  "This way!"

Cye watched in disgust as the two bottomless pits charged off into the trees, grumbling angrily as he replaced the gray rock in the pile and darted after them, seething silently.

*     *     *

Ryo's eyes fluttered open weakly as someone prodded him gently, groaning as he flopped over onto his stomach and tried to rise.  Gentle hands pushed him back down.

"Hold still," Cale murmured, snagging one of Ryo's arms and trying to wrap it with a piece of shredded cloth.  Groaning, Ryo complied, trying not to jerk away whenever Cale hit a tender spot.

"Where are we?" he asked weakly.

Cale grimaced.  "Exactly where you collapsed after fighting those weird lizard things in the trail.  Dais isn't awake yet and I don't think that either of us are up to going anywhere at the moment."

"Do we have any water or food?"

Cale only shook his head, eyes closed wearily.  "I wish."

Groaning again, he laid back and let his friend work on him, not having the strength to do much else at the moment.  After a moment, his lips twitched with an idea.

"I think that we have some food," he murmured, catching his friend's attention.

"And what would that be?"

"How do you feel about roasted lizard?"

Cale blanched before turning greener than Sehkmet's hair, causing Ryo to chuckle softly in amusement.  He sighed in resignation and scrubbed a filthy lock of hair out of his eyes.

"I guess it could be worse," Cale muttered slowly.

"Yea.  _You_ could be cooking."

"Gee, thanks."

Ryo smirked at him around the pain clawing at his body.  "I'll start a fire if you grab one of those things."

"Why should I have to chop it up?" he wailed.

"Because you're in better shape than I am and Dais isn't conscious."

Cale grumbled something that Ryo was sure he didn't want to hear, returning after a few minutes with an enormous leg hanging from his arms.  "One of these things should be more than enough," he grumped as he limped back, glaring at Ryo.  "And where is the fire?"

For an answer, Ryo pointed to the bare ground in front of him.  "Just secure it above the ground somewhere around there and move back."  Growling something that made Ryo choke with laughter, he tied a piece of heavy wire around its leg and hung it from a tree limb, dropping to the ground in pain and exhaustion.

"Where did you get that?"

Cale blinked.  "The wire?  I stole it from one of your little elfin friends out there while you were unconscious.  They had a bunch of neat stuff, but I was afraid to mess with most of it.  I refuse to touch something that I don't know what is."

"No wonder you're still a virgin," Ryo muttered, looking around innocently when Cale glared at him.

"Oh har har.  Cook the damn meat," Cale grumped.

Ryo grinned and complied, not bothering to summon true flames for fear that the light and smoke might give away their location.  Instead, he called on their essence of burning heat, watching in satisfaction as the meat began to drip with juices and browned slowly as the minutes ticked on.  He was about to announce that it was done when something crashed through the trees, nearly crushing him as it darted over to where the leg was roasting.

"Kento!" Ryo gaped, jaw hanging slack.  Sehkmet heard his cry and barely managed to clear him in a desperate jump before creaming him.  The two immediately began fighting over the meat, swearing and growling when they burned their hands several times.  Cye wandered into the camp more slowly, eyes wide.

"Was this a signal intended to gather those two?  Because if it was, it was pure genius," Cye muttered, grinning at Ryo hesitantly.  "You don't look so good.  Let me guess, the lizards and elves on the path?"

Ryo nodded, grinning weakly.  "Are the others with you?"

Cye shook his head.  "I was hoping that you knew where they were."

"Hey Sehkmet," Cale snapped irritably.  "Do you mind?"

"Wha?" he grunted around a mouthful of burning meat.

"You know that all of us are hurt, right?" Cale asked sweetly, grinding his teeth.

Grimacing contritely, he stuffed a fistful of smoking meat in his mouth and began his rounds, looking over to the smoldering leg hanging from the tree longingly as he worked.  It took nearly half an hour for Sehkmet to finish healing them with his diminished abilities, Ryo taking the longest of the three.

Dais groaned as he rose, making faces at the others.  "Where are we?  What happened?  And what in the hell are you guys eating?"

Cale grinned at his friend, eyebrows shooting towards his hairline.  "Well, let me see.  To answer those in order, I don't know, you dropped in the first few minutes of battle with the dark elves like the pansy you are, and you don't want to know."

Dais made a face.  "Who cooked it?"

"I did, kind of," Ryo snickered.

"Well, then I guess it's safe as long as Cale didn't go near it."

"Thanks a lot," he muttered, making a face.

"What is there to drink," Dais asked slowly, looking around.

"There's a spring a few miles that way," Kento said, pointing roughly behind him.

Ryo grimaced.  "Great."

Cye snorted wryly at the others, staring at the ground expectantly.  Ryo and Cale moved over to him and peered over his shoulder while they ate, occasionally prodding him to ask what he thought he was looking at.  Holding one hand out in front of him, he concentrated fiercely, delicate wisps of sea blue flames licking his fingers for a moment as he studied the ground.

The soft earth opened slightly, water gurgling up to the surface in a small spring, much to the shock of the others.

"Hey, Cye," Kento said slowly, eyes narrowing.  "Didn't you say that your powers weren't working?"

"They aren't," he scoffed, settling back comfortably.  "This is elemental manipulation.  You've been doing the same thing with the earth and I'm betting that's how Ryo was able to cook that lizard leg."

Dais choked and spit out the mouthful of meat he had been chewing on, looking up to them in horror.  "Lizard?!" he wailed, blanching and hacking in a fury.

"It doesn't taste bad, does it?" Kento countered, taking a huge bite in front of the greening man.  "Delicious."

The Warlord only looked at them pitifully, mouth twisting in disgust.  He scooted over the small spring Cye had brought up, pausing as he reached towards it.

"There aren't any surprises with the water that I should know about, are there?"

Ryo shook his head and grinned wearily.  "No.  But I suggest that we get moving as soon as possible.  We still need to find Sage, Kayura, and Rowen."

Everyone except Dais, who refused to touch the meat, finished eating in silence.  Allowing themselves a few minutes to rest, they started moving again, trying futilely to ignore the exhaustion tearing at their minds and bodies as they started down the trails once more.

*     *     *

A silent hidden figure slid down the sides of the trails, careful to remain hidden in the shadows.  Eyes shining a furious blood red from beneath a dark greenish brown cowl, he slipped to an observatory position, grinning viciously as several figures passed below him.  Leaping out of hiding, he punched through armor and chest alike of the nearest dark elf, smiling in satisfaction at the blood running down his heavily muscled arm.  Moving onto the next, he casually snagged his arms and tore him in half, chortling to himself as the others scattered.

Not willing to let any of the elves escape his fury, he slammed into the nearest fleeing elf, laughing wildly as his bluish black locks of hair fell in his face incessantly.  Throwing his head back to avoid the dark elf's frantic swing with something that resembled a knife with the handle in the center, he casually tore its throat out with jagged teeth.  He resented the fact that the five-foot elf was so much shorter than he in his eight-foot towering form, forcing him to bend over at an awkward angle.  He reveled in the taste of the blood as his crimson eyes shifted to the deepest black, both irises and whites vanishing in the obsidian depths.

Pulling back with a grin, he replaced his hood and trotted back to the shadows, allowing the inky flames shooting around his shrinking form to die out as he began his hunt for the dark elves who thought they had escaped.

*     *     *

Ryo and Cale pulled up short in trotting down the trail, paling fiercely at the slight that greeted them.  Dark elf corpses were scattered in the clearing.  One had been torn in half messily and another's throat had been ripped out by something rather large.  A third was dragging himself feebly away from them, a hole passing cleanly through the right side of his armor and chest alike.  Cye edged over towards him slowly.

_"What happened?"_ he whispered to the dying dark elf.

_"Looking for an ally, light elf?"_ he sneered, scowling fiercely.

_"I might save you in exchange for information,"_ Cye offered.  The dark elf looked up at him in utter shock at the offer, eyes narrowing in consideration and desperation.

_"Something attacked us.  I'm not sure what it was, but it was big.  It makes your friends look tiny.  Had muscles like a demon, but a human-like form.  Using the dark magics and unheard of strength against us.  He had sharp teeth and red eyes that turned black.  Came from the shadows and reveled in killing and bloodshed.  This is all I know, light elf."_

Cye nodded slowly and motioned for Sehkmet to come over.  "Heal him."

Sehkmet's mouth dropped.  "You're joking, right?  He's with the enemy."

"I promised him that if he told me what happened, we would spare him."

"No way.  He'll attack us."

Sighing, he turned to the dying elf again.  _"You have to swear not to attack us.  Some of the others are a bit edgy about reviving you."_

_"Heh.  What choice do I have?  I swear that I will leave the battlefields of this war and go home if you revive me.  I will not attack you, your friends, or your kind."_

Cye nodded.  "He promised not to do anything.  Heal him."  Sehkmet made a face before complying, laying his hands delicately over the enormous hole in the ebony shin.

_"How long ago was this, dark cousin?"_

"Only a few minutes.  I think he went after the others when they scattered, so he could be anywhere at the moment."

"Ah shit," Cye muttered.  "The thing that got them is no more than a few minutes from us at the very most."  Sehkmet looked up at him in horror but continued to work, swallowing nervously as he began eyeing the surrounding trees.  Cye proceeded to repeat all of the information that he had learned while the others listened in horror.

_"Light cousin,"_ the dark elf called softly, face pensive.  _"I recognize the language you spout.  Tell me that you are not the elfin armor bearer called Cye Mouri."_

"Sorry.  I can't deny that one."

The dark elf's face went blank as he looked to the others, swallowing nervously.  He bounded to his feet when Sehkmet drew back, looking as though he wanted to flee as he neared the others, eyes wide.

_"Are you here to stop the war, light cousin?"_

Cye nodded slowly, unsure exactly how their temporary captive would respond.  He only bobbed his head and looked around carefully, snowy hair falling around his shoulders in matted locks.

Turning to Cye suddenly, he extended his hand.  _"I am Siellon Naymura of the Dark Waters Sept."_

Jumping in shock at the greeting, Cye hesitantly grasped the outstretched hand.  Siellon smiled at him slowly, looking to the others uncertainly.

_"Unless I am mistaken, you are a master of water.  Your friends are masters of fire, earth, darkness, poison, and illusion.  Yes?"_

_"How did you know that?"_

_"I have studied various arts.  I can recognize a master of something when I see him.  It's not too hard if you know what to look for.  I assume these skills were bonuses that came with your lineage and armors."_

"Hey, Cye.  What's he saying?" Ryo asked slowly.  Swallowing, Cye repeated the conversation.  The group looked at the dark elf incredulously, who began to squirm uncomfortably under their level gazes.

"What should we do with him?" Kento asked slowly, eyeing the dark elf uncertainly.  Noticing his look, Siellon looked to Cye.

_"The earth master wants to know what is to be done with me, am I right?"_  Cye nodded slowly, amazed that he was catching on so quickly.  _"I would ask to come with you, light cousin. I owe you a blood debt for my life."_

Eyeing the ebony-skinned elf uncertainly, Cye repeated the request to the others.  Siellon squirmed under the six dumbfounded gazes regarding him, hesitantly slinging his short bow over his shoulder and sheathing his two short swords.

"Maybe we can use him for directions for awhile," Dais suggested, looking around uncertainly at the others.

Cye rolled his eyes.  _"Do you know where Mieren could be found?"_

Siellon nearly jumped out of his skin, backing away with wide eyes.  _"That one?  I do not wish to find her!"_

_"We do."_

_"You're out of your mind if you wish to go to the main battleground where she is, but I will show you the way if you so request it."_  Cye nodded sharply and he sighed.

Sehkmet was chewing on his lower lip thoughtfully.  "He called me a master of poison, didn't he?  Well, if you idiots can do things without your armor, then I should be able to as well," he murmured carefully, looking around.  "Hey Kento, can you make me a hollow sphere of stone that will shatter about like an egg would?"

Kento jumped at the request and blinked uncertainly.  "I think so," he muttered, looking at the ground in careful concentration.

"Leave a hole in one end."

Nodding without looking up, he reached down and picked up the requested item, handing it blankly to Sehkmet.  The Warlord walked over to the nearest tree, placing his hand on the side gently.  A limb lowered slowly to his call, sap running thickly out of a hole in the bark.  Sehkmet grinned and filled the small sphere with the sap and handed it back to Kento, who held it at arm length and paled slightly.

"I haven't done anything to it yet.  It's just tree sap," he chortled.  "I just need you to seal the hole in the end."

Obeying quickly, Kento handed the thing back to him, glancing in confusion at the others, who were watching him in a mixture of fascination and curiosity.  Sehkmet winked at them and palmed the small sphere, smiling crookedly.

"Let's see how this works," he murmured, chunking the thing at the nearest tree.

Everyone present jumped back as the thing shattered, thick greenish ooze running thickly down the side of the tree.  There was a soft hissing for an instant before the tree began to turn gray and melt, wilting to the ground in a matter of seconds.  All that remained after ten seconds was a mass of bubbling slime on the ground that continued to smoke slightly.  Sehkmet crowed triumphantly as he turned to the others.

"If you make those things, _you_ are going to carry them," Ryo muttered, eyes trying to bulge out of his head.  No one else was responding much better to display with the exception of Siellon, who seemed extremely impressed.

They conceded to wait for a few minutes as Sehkmet made a large collection of the things, storing them in a huge pouch he fashioned out of his cloak.  Grinning at the protected feeling that the poisonous bulbs gave him, he followed the dark elf as he led the way down the trail.

To Be Continued…

Okay then.  I'm tired of fighting the format for today.  I'll tackle the other parts later when I'm not half asleep.  R&R!


	6. Part 6

Obsidian Fires

Part 6

By Mieren

Rowen lifted one hand to his head, pulling further into the shadows and peering around intently as he tried to figure out where he was.  His head felt like it was packed with cotton and he couldn't seem to get his mind to focus.  Squinting at the light dancing in the open fields, he began looking around for somewhere to hide until nightfall.

Scrubbing his hands through his hair stiffly, he settled back under a stone outcropping in the side of a hill, struggling to hide deeper in his cloak.  For a moment, he could have sworn that he was forgetting something, something important.  Growling angrily, he leaned back against the cool soil and began fighting to remember whatever it was that he had forgotten.  The thoughts teased the edges of his mind while eluding his grasp entirely.

Shrugging in irritation, he squinted towards the trail he had been on for more than a week, wondering how close he was to the main battlefield.  He knew the strategic locations for intensive fighting in this dimension, and was heading towards the most important of them.  The sheer numbers of dark elves he had seen spoke well for the battle being somewhere in this direction.

Wondering what it was that he had forgotten, he slammed his fist into the side of the hill, causing a small landslide to bury him for protection against the harsh sun.  He would be a bit dirty when he woke up, but it was better than being scorched.  Relaxing under the cool soil, he settled back to sleep for a few hours, his mind grabbing desperately at what he had forgotten as he drifted to sleep and giving up as he decided that the only thing that mattered was finding Mieren.

*     *     *

Cye staggered and clutched his head in his hands, crying out softly.  The other six in the group stopped immediately, pushing him to the ground.  He was grateful for the blessedly still ground, the rest of the world seeming to spin wildly in his eyes.

Eyes glazing slightly, he stared blankly ahead, oblivious to the hands shaking him and the voices calling his name.  Everything seemed too bright in his eyes and the air burnt his skin relentlessly.  Whimpering and curling into a ball, he didn't notice when someone lifted him gently and carried him cradled like a small child.

Snapping to awareness suddenly, Cye lashed out viciously, grinning maliciously when his fists contacted something solid and created a startled grunt.  Leaping out of the confining grasp that was holding him, he swung again at the blurred shapes surrounding him, missing miserably as they dodged nimbly.  Blinking sweat out of dull eyes, he gazed around, spitting out something that sent several of the figures around him into a panicked frenzy.  Something solid contacted forcefully with his jaw.  Darkness enveloped him.

Groaning feebly and trying to open his eyes, he batted weakly at the arms holding him, struggling to pull free of the strong grip.  Cye was aware that someone was calling his name softly as he was set down.

"What?" he grated out, squinting in the burning light.

"Are you okay, Cye?"

Forcing his eyes to focus, he peered into Kento's worried face and nodded slowly.

"What was going on?" he muttered irritably.

"Do you remember what happened earlier?"  That was Ryo, he noted absently as he shook his head.  "You were casting the Exodus spell and scaring the piss out of everyone here.  Sorry about hitting you, but I had to stop you."

"All I remember was my head hurting and something trying to pin me," he trailed off, blinking at Kento's bruised jaw.  "Tell me I didn't do that."

Kento shrugged.  "You swing like a girl anyway," he snorted.

Cye rolled his eyes and sighed.  "Okay," he drawled.  "Let me think.  The light hurt both my eyes and skin.  I couldn't remember where I was exactly or what I seemed to be forgetting."

Ryo slumped to the ground wearily.  "Do you know who that sounds like?"

Paling, Cye nodded.  "There's something wrong with him.  We have to find him."

"You said he couldn't remember anything?" Dais asked slowly, eye narrowing.  "Ask Siellon what that means.  I have a bad feeling that he'll know."

"You know something, don't you?" Ryo snapped, rounding on the Warlord.

"I'm not sure.  I want the dark elf to verify it."

Cye groaned at their bickering and turned to their dark elf companion.  _"What does it mean to wake up confused and not remembering anything?"_

_"You're not talking about yourself, I can tell.  You seem to remember everything now.  It could mean a variety of things.  Of them, injury, poison, and dark magics are the most likely."_

_"I knew about the first two.  Tell me about the third."_

"I'm not sure.  It could be that a spell was cast or he's working with something he doesn't understand.  That's all I know.  I don't really like using the dark arts."

Sighing irritably, Cye repeated the little he had gotten out of their companion.

"Well I have no idea either.  How are we supposed to find him?" Dais asked slowly, looking to the others.

Siellon tugged on Cye's arm, murmuring softly.

_"You seem to have a mental link with someone.  Tell me about him, and I will see if I can help you find him."_

Cye scrubbed his hands through his hair.  _"Well, he's looking for Mieren and will only be traveling at night."_

Siellon's eyes narrowed dangerously.  _"And why is that?"_

_"He's… well… a vampire,"_ he admitted reluctantly.  The dark elf looked ready to run for cover, looking around wildly.

_"If he's one of the dark ones, then why do you seek him?"_

_"He's a friend and the bearer of the Armor of Strata."_

_"I thought Mieren had that,"_ he whispered, eyeing the ground uncertainly.

_"She did, but she gave it back to Rowen."_

The elf's head snapped up to regard Cye suddenly.  _"Rowen?"_ he breathed, eyes bulging.  _"We know of him here.  He was brought back by the request of Mieren if I remember correctly.  Ah… the rumors say that he is the descendant of the Hashiba line.  Is it true?"_  Cye's nod sent him into a state of mild shock.  He took a deep breath.  _"I know where he went.  The information passed along our lines warned of the Child of Hashiba running rampant through our ranks."_

Grinning widely, Cye turned to the others.  "Siellon knows where Rowen is," he called out happily.  The others only gaped.  _"Lead on, dark cousin."_

Smiling uncertainly, Siellon cut sharply through the trees to another trail that ran parallel to the one they were on for the first few miles before coming to several branches and hooking slightly more to the north.

*     *     *

Neris pulled Sage and Kayura off of the trail suddenly, moving into the shrubbery for cover and motioning for them to stay down.  He drew a dagger from his boot and held the tip in his fingers, tensing the muscles in his arm slightly.

A dark elf trotted past them, beginning down the trail they were on from where it joined with a lesser trail.  The knife flashed in Neris's fingers, disappearing in the direction of the dark figure.  The dark elf whipped out two identical short swords and swatted the blade out of the air contemptuously, spinning to face his opponent with swords held ready.

Neris didn't need any encouragement, charging into the reach of the dark elf with a long slender sword in one hand and a foot long blade in the other.  They met in a clash of sparks and weapons slammed into each other with unnerving power.  Surprisingly, the dark elf didn't fight back, merely backing away and repelling the attacks coming from his opponent.  Sage drew his no-dachi and entered the fray, eyes flashing golden in the harsh shadows as he neared the combatants.

The dark elf blanched at the centaur he saw approaching, trying to back away.  He paused in his retreat, rolling to a safer position for a moment and snapping his blades back into their sheathes.  Neris scowled at him but didn't move forward to kill him.

Pointing at Sage, the dark elf grinned, eyes sparkling a deep ruby.  "Sage Date!" he cried out triumphantly, motioning behind him.  Neris scowled and moved forward to finish him, his earlier indecision forgotten.  A sharp command pulled him up short.

Cye stormed over and slapped the dark elf on the back of the head, gibbering wildly and occasionally grinning at Sage.  Neris only stared at him in utter shock.

"Cye Mouri?" Neris asked quietly, eyes bulging as his knees buckled and deposited him roughly to the ground.  Cye grinned in his direction and nodded.

Sage darted over, grin splitting his face.  "Hey Cye, it's good to see you.  Have you seen any of the others?"  Cye looked at him blankly for a moment before a slow grin crept across his face when Kayura came darting out of hiding with a mass of weapons in tow, struggling to wave at him.

"Yea," Cye murmured, eyes sparkling.  "All of the others are with me.  And better yet, Siellon knows where Rowen is."

"Siellon?" Kayura murmured, eyeing the dark elf carefully.  "Why is a dark elf working with you guys anyway?"

Cye shrugged.  "We saved his life and he offered to help us, saying something about a blood debt or some such."

"What the hell is going on over here?" Ryo demanded, storming down the trail with Cale in tow, Sehkmet following a little further behind with something in his hands.  The three came to a dead stop when they saw Sage and Kayura, calling back down the trail loudly and laughing wildly.  Dais and Kento came charging in, hooting loudly and engaging in a quick punching match, which Kento quickly won, before they darted over.

Kayura made a face.  "And Dais is _still_ causing problems."

Dais blew her a kiss and winked his one eye, grinning at her disgusted expression.

Grumbling to herself about idiots with white hair, Kayura started moving around the group, handing out the weapons that they had selected for them.  Dais frowned at the broadsword and belt of knives that she handed him, hefting the weighty weapon with surprising skill considering it was not his weapon of choice and never had been.  Ryo eyed the archaic runes scrawled in the sides of the long twin swords he had been handed, whistling appreciatively as he swung them experimentally.

In playing, Kento 'accidentally' cracked Dais in the back of the head with his blade-tipped staff, grinning as the older man spit out something that caused Cye to redden slightly.  At the blush, their little battle was forgotten as they engaged in a contest of who could piss off Cye the worst.  Sehkmet joined in after the third phrase was tossed out, adding combinations of words that had Ryo blushing and Sage paling.

"How long have you had to put up with that?" Sage asked incredulously.

"Too long," Cye muttered, pegging the nearest offending person with the side of his new yari, grinning at the answering yelp.

Kayura waded into the fray with a snarl, swinging freely with the flat of her swords, creating loud cracking noises and louder squalls.  The other Warlords backed off with raised hands, well aware of her fighting abilities and the bruises they would have if they continued.  Sehkmet wandered over to Sage and grinned slightly, holding up something about the size and shape of a golf ball.

"What is that?" Sage murmured, lifting it carefully into his hands.

"New toy of mine.  The others don't like it, even though it's perfectly safe as long as it isn't broken."

"What does it do?"

"Throw it at a tree and see," he smirked.

Instead of obeying, Sage probed the thing with his mind, face paling when he realized what the thing would do to anything it came into contact with.  He carefully handed the thing back to Sehkmet and stepped back.  Sehkmet snickered wickedly.

"All of us seem to have abilities associated with out armors that we've never bothered to tap into until now.  Your element is light, yes?"

Sage nodded slowly, making a face.  He could manipulate the light?  Interesting.

Concentrating on the rays of light shining down onto a clearing just up ahead in the trail, he sighed and shook his head.

"I can't get it to do anything," he muttered sourly, rolling his eyes at the fireballs Ryo was busy juggling awkwardly as Cye attempted to put them out with small bursts of water while Kento tried to sink them both into the ground.

Sehkmet shrugged.  "Don't worry about it.  Cye didn't figure out how to manipulate the water immediately.  He's been screwing around for the past few hours on the trail, seeing how many of us he could soak with his little tricks.  He mainly tried to get myself and Dais, occasionally pegging Kento with a blast."

"Shall we get moving?" Ryo asked sweetly from where he was buried to his waist in the ground.  Kento grinned and pulled him free, moving over to Cye next.

Looking to the dark and light elves were arguing loudly, Cye made a face.  "I don't think that those two are going to be getting along too well," he muttered, scowling at both of them.

Dais and Sehkmet looked at each other for a moment, grinning slightly.  "Well then, if they won't walk together down the trail, we may just have to do something about that, yes?" Sehkmet smirked, tossing the dark elf across his shoulders while Dais tackled the light elf and boosted him up for a ride.  They both snapped something at Cye.

Cye groaned.  "They both said something to the effect that if you don't put them down, right now, they're going to do something to you that you're not going to like."

The two offending Warlords grinned at each other.  "They weigh about half what we do and they're almost a foot shorter.  What can they possibly do to us?"

"They're smarter than you two," Cye muttered, pushing past them to start down the trail and leaving the others to follow.  He hadn't gone four paces before he stopped suddenly, stepping back and rubbing his face amid a variety of growled obscenities.

Ryo passed by him, looking around carefully.  He stopped precisely in the same area Cye had, fingering his nose and grumbling something that made Sehkmet choke.  Reaching out, he slammed his fist into the air, a resounding pop echoing back to the others as his fist contacted _something_.

Sage walked forward slowly with his hands in front of him carefully.  His fingers contacted an invisible wall, the smooth surface strangely warm against his fingers.  He grinned suddenly and walked forward, casually passing down the trail.  Ryo looked at him carefully and moved to follow, swearing loudly when he slammed his face into something again.

"Oh fine," Sage chortled.  "I'll take down the wall of light."  He continued to snicker as he stared blankly at the small clearing with golden eyes for a moment, grinning triumphantly back at the others.

Using a rare show of sense, Ryo started forward with his hands leading the way, grinning when he passed by where the wall had been.  Cye started forward without checking, trusting Sage not to screw around like the mentally deficient Warlords.

"Nice trick," Kayura murmured as she passed him, throwing the younger boy one of her best smiles.  Sage blushed slightly and looked at the ground when the others started to hoot wildly.  Cye groaned and shook his head, already tired of the stupidity.

Neris and Siellon exchanged vicious glances as they regarded the two Warlords holding them securely across their shoulders.  Sehkmet and Dais only grinned at their struggling and scowls as they headed down the trail with their unwilling passengers hanging furiously across their shoulders.  The two elves muttered something to one another that caused Cye to choke slightly and turn away, wheezing around his laughter.

"What did he say?" Dais murmured, eyeing the youngest Ronin.

"Nothing that I'm going to repeat."

"And why not?" Sehkmet prompted.

"Because you'll find out soon enough."

The two Warlords exchanged wary looks before regarding their passengers thoughtfully.  Simultaneously, they bent down and lowered their unwilling cargo to the ground and moved back a few paces.  The elves only straightened their clothes, raised their heads imperiously and stormed to the front of the group, muttering softly to one another and occasionally throwing amused glances at the two nervous Warlords.

*     *     *

When they stopped to rest for the night, Sehkmet and Dais made a point of staying well clear of the two elves that had been grinning at them for the last few hours.  Neris waved one milky hand, Siellon darting away from the campsite immediately in response to the gesture.  Cye only snickered quietly, ignoring the others' confused and curious stares.

Neris leapt off of the ground and charged Sehkmet, who squeaked in horror and took off, darting away from the camp with a horrified expression on his face.  He hadn't made it more than a few paces before a snare lifted him clear of the ground, leaving him hanging from a large tree limb by one ankle.  Grinning, the elf turned to Dais, who edged away from him warily, his one eye wide.

The advancing elf froze, face paling and taking on a greenish tinge.  He whimpered and moved back a pace, eyes widening quickly.  Dais looked around frantically, an irritated tick beginning in his cheek when a loop of rope dropped around him from above.  His arms were firmly bound to his sides when Siellon leapt out of the tree above him with the end of the rope in his hands.  Neris gave up his horrified expression and laughed at the dangling Warlord.

"Umm, Cye?"

Cye looked over to Kento, eyes streaming as he fought not to laugh.

"Yes?"

"What are they doing?" he asked patiently.  Cye only grinned.

"That's not an answer," Ryo grumped.

Trotting off into the night with Dais in tow, the elves began another conversation, occasionally ribbing each other and pointing to their captives.  Cale and Kayura looked as though they wanted to help, but feared the consequences of doing so.  They settled on watching with the others as the elves returned to bind Sehkmet and pull him out of the tree, chatting softly.  Cye gasped and went into convulsions, tears streaming freely down his face.

"Cye," Cale began, stopping short when the dark elf turned back to look at him for a moment, a considering look in his ruby eyes.

Mortified cries echoed through the silence of the evening.  The only thing that kept the Ronins and Warlords from moving to help was Cye's unconcealed mirth.

*     *     *

Sehkmet cried out as the dark elf, enveloped in obsidian flames, reached out to grasp his face in clammy hands.  He tried to buck unsuccessfully from where they had bound him, tears threatening to fall from his dark eyes.  He was released after a moment, the two elves grinning at him as the cut the bonds holding him to the massive tree.

He immediately jumped up and darted away from them, afraid to stop to see what they had done.  Wild laughter followed him.  He tumbled to the ground heavily several times, his balance annihilated beyond compensation.  Not bothering to go back to camp, he started for the small pond they had decided to camp near, halfway hoping that there wasn't enough light left for him to see what they had done.

Stumbling into the clearing, he fell to his knees beside the water.  Catching his reflection, his eyes bulged, threatening to roll out of his head.  He slowly raised one hand to the side of his face in disbelief.

Thick, dark scales covered him almost entirely, only abating around his face.  Forest green scales that matched his hair almost exactly rose along the sides of his cheeks, hugging his ears and hairline closely.  The stripes angled sharply to run beneath his eyes, tapering off to nothing just before reaching his nose.  The delicate scales around the two stripes radiated outward in an ever-lightening pattern that slowly melted into the color of the skin on his face.

He ran one taloned hand slowly over the stripes on his face, jaw quivering at the way the scales on his face became thinner so smoothly, so gradually, that it was almost impossible to tell where the scales ended and his skin began.

Tearing his gaze from the greenish yellow eyes of his reflection staring back at him, Sehkmet began to examine the rest of what the two menaces had done to him.  His entire body was covered in heavy scales that swirled through several shades of green as they caught the meager evening light, threatening to blend in with anything he neared.  A tail as thick as his arm at the base brushed the ground as he rose to his feet, the ridges and spikes catching on his clothes as he tried to move it uncertainly.

He ceased fingering his claws and the heavy ridges decorating his arms and back when a mortified shriek echoed through the trees.  Making a face, he slipped into the shadows to see what the two terrors had done to Dais.

It didn't take him long to find his horrified friend, back pressed to a tree as the two elves ribbed each other and wandered off amid muffled laughter.  Slipping out of the shadows, he looked at his friend and blinked.  He blinked again.  Dais was leaning against a tree, face blank.  One of his hands was gripping a low hanging branch fiercely for support.  Another was scrubbing hair out of his face absently.  Two others were crossed across his chest as he hugged himself in shock.

Sehkmet made a face and began counting hands.  There were six total.  The final two, apparently the original, were still bound to the tree.  Rolling his eyes, he moved forward and freed his catatonic friend, noting absently that his friend now had a rather strange upper body build with that many arms lining each side of his chest.  He watched in mild amusement as his friend squeaked and darted behind the tree.

"Don't worry.  We'll get them later," Sehkmet muttered.

"Sehkmet?" a querulous voice asked slowly.  "Is that you?"

"What's left of me."

Dais edged around the tree, a pensive frown on his face.  "At least you're uglier than I am."

"And how in the hell do you figure that?"

"Face it.  I'm gorgeous.  Even with the improvement in your appearance, I look better'n you."

"You're dead."

A race for camp began, Dais fleeing for his life as an enraged Sehkmet charged after him, preparing to pound him into the ground.  Snapping his cloak shut just before entering camp, Dais leapt into the light, grinning maliciously as he spun to face Sehkmet's entrance.

Sehkmet skidded to a stop and backpedaled frantically when five sets of weapons were leveled with him immediately upon his arrival.  Dais, the elves, and Cye were the only ones not preparing to attack him.  Scowling furiously at Dais, he flopped to the ground, the tip of his tail twitching in annoyance as he waited for the others to recognize him.  Cye's muffled laughter quickly led the others to figure out what had happened.

"And what did they do to you?" Cye managed to choke out as he turned to Dais.  The older man only raised one eyebrow slightly before whistling softly and flopping onto his back to stare innocently at the stars.

Sehkmet tackled him, beginning a rough impromptu wrestling match which Dais quickly won once he broke free of the confining cloak wrapped tightly around him.  The Ronins and non-terrorized Warlords could only stare in shock.  His war with Sehkmet forgotten, Dais jumped to his feet and walked over to Kayura, whispering something to her softly, eye gleaming.

Kayura reddened and slapped him furiously.  "I don't care how creative you think you can get with that many hands!  The answer is still no!"

Sage tried not to chuckle as Kayura stormed over and plopped down beside him, her eyes flashing with unconcealed fury.

"I think you need one more hand, Dais," Kento choked out, tears streaming from his eyes.  "That way you would have one for every night of the week."

Dais leveled a furious glare in his direction, fighting the red igniting in his cheeks.  Wrapping his cloak around him indignantly, he muttered something about Kento knowing about such things before turning away from the others.

Neris moved forward slowly, eyeing the two Warlords he had helped torment before turning to regard Cye.

_"They're not responding as spectacularly as we had hoped.  Why do they take this so calmly?"_

Cye made a face as he considered it for a moment.  _"Some of the jokes Mieren played on us involved shapeshifting.  She told us that such spells would wear off after a week or so if not maintained."_

_"That's if you're joking around with minor spells.  Don't they know that what we did will not wear off?"_

Cye choked and began wheezing on laughter as he relayed the message to the others as they waited expectantly.  Dais and Sehkmet paled instantly, jaws hanging slack.

"You _cannot_ be serious," Dais muttered, glaring at the widely grinning elves.

Sehkmet didn't bother to respond.  He rose slowly to his feet and charged Siellon, talons extended as he leapt into the air, missing his target by inches as the dark elf rolled out of his path and darted into the trees.

"Elves are a bit on the vengeful side, I take it," Cale murmured, trying to stay clear of the chaos raging around him as his friend tried to kill the two elves.

"Remind me not to piss them off," Kayura muttered, edging away from the battle, and consequently closer to Sage, who took advantage of the situation and slipped one arm around her comfortingly.  She looked at him strangely but didn't pull away.

"If you need to be reminded, I'm going to have to worry," Cale snorted dryly.

Dais decided to use his brains instead of brute force, like Sehkmet was trying at the moment.  He edged over towards Cye, face taking on a pleading expression.

"You can speak to them and they like you.  Could you ask them to reconsider?" he begged miserably.

Cye called out something to the two elves, who shouted out a response as they continued to dodge the furious Warlord.

Cye shrugged.  "Considered and rejected," he said slowly, struggling to keep his voice steady.

Sehkmet scowled and moved over to his things darkly, having heard the entire exchange.  Siellon and Neris watched him warily when he discontinued his attack, glancing at each other in confusion.  The dark elf squeaked out something and darted into the woods in a full sprint.  Neris paused to glance at the small stone spheres in Sehkmet's hands before following the other elf's example.

*     *     *

Sehkmet and Dais followed the others silently, staying a few paces behind the group at all times.  They each had drawn their cloaks tightly around themselves, hiding in the billowing depths of the dark fabric.

Sage glanced back at them and groaned again.  It had taken all of them over an hour to pin the two and force them to promise not to kill the two elves.  Dais had been nearly impossible to hold down, being at least as strong as Sage in his centaur form.  They had only agreed to allow the elves to live when it was pointed out that they were the only ones that knew how to turn them back.  Grinding his teeth irritably, he slowed his pace to fall in beside the two idiots trailing them.

"Are you two still moping?"

Dais scowled at him darkly from under his hood.  Sehkmet blatantly refused to look up from the ground.

"Like you wouldn't be," he snapped angrily.

Sage made a face.  "Have you two noticed what form I've been wandering around in for the last few days?" he growled, eyes flashing golden for a moment.  Dais's one eye flashed red in response for the moment it took him to realize it and avert his gaze.  Sage pursed his lips thoughtfully.  Arching his eyebrows at the unreceptive glower directed at him, he shrugged and trotted up to walk beside Cye again.

Siellon turned when he approached, muttering something to Cye.  The youngest Ronin blinked and turned to the others slowly, eyeing the surrounding terrain warily.

"Something's flanking us.  It's been watching us for at least an hour now, and its not exactly happy that we're here," he murmured slowly, eyes haunted.

"What is it?" Ryo asked, gripping the hilts of his katanas fiercely.

Cye shook his head.  "We don't know.  It's hiding pretty well."

The Ronins and Warlords joined the two elves in watching the surrounding area as they moved down the trail at a grueling pace.

Sage skidded to a stop and backpedaled frantically, running over Cale, when something jumped out of the shadows onto the trail in front of them.  Dirt and blood smeared a dark greenish brown cloak concealing the eight-foot figure towering over the warriors.  Weapons were drawn and leveled immediately.

Within the first attack, it became apparent why the creature didn't carry any weapons with him.  He didn't need any.  He swatted aside the attacking blades almost contemptuously as he advanced on the group, crimson eyes swirling dangerously.  Sage managed to get in a lucky blow and knock aside the heavy hood concealing his opponent.

Dark bluish black locks fell around a feral scowl on a twisted face.  Every bone in the thing's face was heavily pronounced, the size of the bones leaving lumps and ridges that created a horrifying profile.  The deep blood-colored eyes shifted to an impossible obsidian as every muscle in the eight-foot form bulged and expanded.  He grinned wickedly, flashing a mouthful of dagger-like fangs.

Siellon jumped back and cried out something loudly, ruby eyes bulging.  Cye blanched and moved back quickly.

"That's the thing that attacked the dark elves!" Cye cried out to the others, leveling his yari defensively.  Everyone except Sage, Kayura and Neris blanched and leapt back from the attacking force wildly, motioning for the remaining three to follow suit and stay out of reach.

Moving forward, the towering giant snagged Kento in one thick hand, throwing him into a mortified Cale.  Dais and Sehkmet jumped away from the flying Ronin and shucked off their cloaks to increase their mobility.  Dais drew six of the daggers lining his belt without thinking about it, each hand moving to a different defensive position.

The blue-haired giant paused as the Warlord approached warily, his one eye flashing a brilliant ruby.  Scowling, he slammed one foot into his six-handed assailant to send him careening into Cye.  The two collapsed into an unmoving heap.

Sehkmet used this his friend's attack as a distraction so he could move in, Sage circling around behind the Warlord while Ryo and Kayura shifted behind the unarmed attacker.  Dropping to a crouch, the enormous adversary lashed out with his legs again, kicking Ryo's legs out from under him to send him flailing into Kayura.  Building on his momentum, he rolled forward into Sehkmet, ripping the twin swords out of the man's hands before throwing him into the nearing elves.  He rounded on Sage, a feral grin splitting his face.

Sage blanched and tried to move back to create some room so he could use his no-dachi effectively.  He didn't have the chance, his opponent was too fast.  The entire battle to this point had taken no more than a few seconds, and it looked as though they had lost.

A punch contacted with his jaw, only Sage's demonic strength keeping the blow from being lethal.  As it was, he wilted to the ground, his no-dachi ripped from his hands as his attacker confiscated the weapon and swung it around to hold it at his throat.  Sage froze, eyes glistening in pain and fear.

His blue-haired assailant paused, blinking slowly as his obsidian eyes clouded slightly in the early morning light.  Staring at the blade in his hands uncertainly for a moment, he shrugged and dropped the weapon, spinning lightly to move back into the deeper shadows of the forest.  Sage watched numbly as he lost two feet of his height as he walked, muscles vanishing to leave an almost lank form trotting steadily away, concealed within the deep folds of his now oversized cloak.

*     *     *

Rowen shifted uncomfortably in the early morning light, snuggling deeper into the folds of his cloak and wondering idly what had woken him at this ungodly hour.  Shrugging unconcernedly, he made sure the hood of his enormous filthy cloak covered him completely as he pushed himself deeper into the shrubbery around him.

Closing his eyes, he couldn't help but feel he was forgetting about something.  Something important.  He felt as though there was something he was supposed to do, something he was forgetting or leaving behind, but he couldn't place what it was.  Grumbling darkly to himself about his rotten memory, he peered one last time at the trail just a few paces from where he was hiding, wondering idly how much longer it would be until he found Mieren.  Sighing loudly, he tried to ignore his burning skin as he went back to sleep.  As he drifted off, his mind screamed furiously at him, demanding to know exactly when he had entered the sun long enough to be burnt.  The question was left unanswered as sleep overtook him.

To Be Continued…

Evil computers… Evil…


	7. Part 7

Obsidian Fires

Part 7

By Mieren

Kento grabbed Cye by the scruff of his neck and hauled him away from the two elves before he went for their throats.  With the way they had been screaming at each other for the last few minutes, he was sure it wouldn't been too long before they started pounding on each other.

"So what's got your boxers in a knot?" he asked cheerily, ignoring the younger boy's answering scowl.

"They're both blind," Cye snarled angrily, pulling free of his friend's grip.

"How is that?" Ryo asked slowly, coming up beside the two and eyeing the elves askance.

"Siellon thinks that that thing was just toying with us.  Neris insists that it was called away to somewhere else.  Everyone using the darker arts can still speak to one another, after all."

"And what do you think?" Cale asked carefully, joining the argument suddenly.

"I think that he stopped because he didn't want to hurt Sage."

Sage blinked and snapped out of his thoughts long enough to wander over.  "And why would you think that?  He didn't really do any serious damage to any of us.  He could have if he had wanted to, you know."

Cye scowled darkly when the dark elf muttered something in his direction.  "Siellon thinks another possibility is that he was confused by our mixed group of two light elves, a dark elf, and several demons.  He said that the lighter demons have stayed clear of the war for the most part and have shown no signs that they were going to join in any time soon."

Kayura blinked, frowning slightly.  "That makes sense in a way.  If he's been terrorizing the dark elves, he might be on our side in a way.  He might not have known what to make of a group that looked as though it contained members from both sides of the war."

Growling in frustration, Cye glared ahead.  "He was pounding all of us and smiling while he did it.  He stopped when he came to Sage for a reason.  I'm telling you, he didn't want to hurt him."

"I can kind of see why you would think that, but there's no reason for him not to want to kill me," Sage murmured, staring at the ground thoughtfully.  "Although, I must admit that he was looking at my no-dachi rather strangely."

"Question," Kento called out softly.  "What was that thing anyway?"

Cye paused in his tirade to scrub one hand through his unruly russet hair.  "I have no idea.  I'd guess a demon, judging by the way it fought.  They can look however they want, after all."

"That would explain why he didn't kill Sage when he had the chance," Cale murmured, staring at the ground thoughtfully.  "He was in his centaur form at the time, so he might have been spared because of what he was."

Ryo shook his head.  "No way.  Demons can recognize others of their own kind without even trying.  That would have spared Kento and myself instead of just Sage.  Besides, even if it hadn't been using the darker arts, I thought Siellon said that the lighter demons hadn't joined in the war."

"One or two may have, just not the majority," Cye muttered.

The group fell silent for almost an hour.  The stillness was broken when Sehkmet and Dais engaged in a wrestling match with the two elves while they were distracted, resulting in two very bruised, and very angry, elfin warriors.  Cale and Kayura just rolled their eyes.  The others pretended not to see.

"You two are just asking for it," Cye grumbled as he started moving again when the elves freed themselves from the two furious Warlords.  Dais made a face and threw him six inappropriate gestures.  Sehkmet spat at him angrily, the darkened area on the ground where his saliva landed beginning to smoke immediately.

Sage edged over to the smoking earth, eyebrows rising slowly as he turned to Cye.  "Would you care to ask those two why they decided to make the dimension's greatest idiot poisonous?"  Sehkmet scowled at him angrily.

Cye turned to the two battered elves and muttered something darkly.  The dark elf shrugged and turned to the light, who had an equally baffled expression on his face.  Conferring with each other for a moment, the muttered something almost unintelligible.

Sighing loudly, Cye turned back to the others.  "They didn't.  Siellon is guessing that it has something to do with Sehkmet being a master of venom and poisons."  Neris added something that caused Cye to blink.  "That would make it self-inflicted in a fashion."  Sehkmet froze, his expression turning downright murderous.

The two tormented Warlords looked as though they were about to attack again when Siellon stiffened and looked around suddenly.  He growled something sharply in Cye's direction as he snapped his twin swords out of their scabbards.  Cye tensed.

"We're approaching one of the five major battlefields," he snapped, slipping into his chain mail and fingering his yari.  The others lifted their weapons instantly, all quarrels forgotten as they moved into an enormous smoldering clearing, corpses dotting the scorched earth as far as the eye could see.

"My God," Dais breathed, tightening his grip on the six blades he held as he took a step back.  "They even had children fighting."

Everyone in the group paled at this announcement when they saw that he was right, tiny corpses intermingling with the larger, most of them horribly dismembered.

"I don't think anyone we're looking for is here," Ryo whispered as his gaze moved across the abandoned fields.  Sage nodded in agreement.

"I think we should get moving," Cale murmured, face pale.  "The sun is setting and I do not want to be here when it gets dark."  The others nodded in agreement, backtracking for several miles before setting camp for the night, the sun vanishing on the horizon as they settled in.

They hadn't been there for more than a few minutes when Neris and Siellon vanished into the trees, coming back within a few seconds and gibbering wildly at Cye.  The youngest Ronin blanched and jumped to his feet, eyes wild.

"We're being circled," he hissed as his eyes shifted to a swirling crimson.

The others had barely gotten to their feet when a shadow detached itself from the thick trees around them, moving into the meager light of the small fire they had started.  Sage squeaked and moved back as the eight-foot form moved into the flickering light, a feral grin appearing on the twisted face.  Obsidian flames licked the heavily muscled form moving in one the group, bathing the area in an unnerving gloom.

A blast of liquefied blackness detached itself from one of his hands, slamming Ryo into Cale, both of them crashing through the nearest tree before going still.

Sehkmet's startled curse earned him the attention of the attacker, something that he really didn't want or need.  In desperation, he slung one of his poisonous bombs at his opponent, which was promptly caught and returned in a vicious underhanded throw, the venomous sphere shattering on the Warlord's chest.  He yelped and jumped out of his smoldering clothes, not noticing his enemy's approach until a malicious blow landed in his ribs, creating several loud pops before he wilted to the ground.

Undaunted, Dais moved in with Kayura and the elves flanking him.  The three standing Ronins circled behind the attacking giant, Kento ordering the earth to envelop the huge man in front of him.  As the ground moved to comply, the blue-haired giant lifted smoothly off of the ground, throwing blasts of obsidian energy around at the warriors.  The two elves and Warlords were the first to be dropped by the crackling energy, being directly in his line of vision.

Kento gasped as the thing turned, jumping forward desperately to shield Cye from one of the ebony slashes of power.  He slumped to the ground as pain radiated through his body, the crippling pain enveloping him effectively removing him from the battle.

Tears formed in his eyes as Cye watched his best friend collapse to the ground, throat constricting as he stood helpless to do anything.  Tears vanished in a flash of cold fury, the unfathomable energy building suddenly in his veins blinding him.  He lashed out with his mind viciously, head spinning as an answering blast blocked his own, the backlash of power nearly depositing him to the ground.  In pain and desperation, he tried again, throwing what was left of the energies he possessed at his opponent before crumpling to the ground beside his friend.

*     *     *

Sage paled and stepped away when Cye first began to unleash his attacks, the black flames leaping wildly around the younger boy thoroughly unnerving him.  His mind spun in horror as the giant rounded on him when no other targets presented themselves.  Whimpering in confusion and fear, Sage spun to leave, praying to draw him away long enough for the others to regroup and recover from the blows.

He only made it a short way from camp before he was cut off by his terrifyingly swift opponent.  Swallowing nervously, he raised his no-dachi.

The blue-haired giant blinked at him, face twisting into something that almost looked like a cross between confusion and fury.  _Oh, God,_ Sage thought frantically, mind reeling, _Cye was right.  He doesn't want to hurt me.  _Sage swallowed slowly and decided to take a chance, praying that it wouldn't get him killed.  He lowered his no-dachi and shifted back to human form.

Jerking away in shock, Sage's opponent actually took a step back, obsidian eyes flickering to red as the black flames around him died almost reluctantly.  Without the supporting power of the flames, he began to diminish in size until he was just under six feet in height.  The muscles vanished with the height, leaving an almost lank individual swaying slightly in the darkness.  The protruding bones and lumps in the twisted face began to melt away before Sage's disbelieving eyes, the dark navy hair lightening into a dirty blue.

Blinking eyes that seemed to resist shifting from a blood red to a dull sapphire, he collapsed to the ground, leaving Sage staring in shock and horror as he breathed a single word into the silence.

"Rowen."

*     *     *

It took Sage nearly thirty minutes to gather his wits enough to lift Rowen into his arms and move back towards camp.  He staggered into the small clearing where they had set camp, eyes glazed and face blank as he looked to the others.

In the time he had been gone, the others had pulled themselves off of the ground as Sehkmet made his rounds slowly, clutching his ribs and muttering something about broken scales.  As he walked up, every head swiveled towards him, several of the people there raising weapons before recognizing him from where he stood in the deeper shadows.

"Sage!" Ryo called out happily, jumping to his feet.  "We were about to start looking for you.  Are you okay?"  He fell silent as he neared as saw who Sage had hanging from his arms.

"My God…" Kayura breathed, eyes bulging as she was the first to piece together what had happened.  Cale and Dais paled and moved back slightly.  Sehkmet didn't bother to look up, dropping his head to his knees as he realized what had unnerved the others.

Kento swallowed numbly.  "Tell me that wasn't him," he breathed, his eyes clouding as he stumbled forward a few steps to take the unconscious boy from his friend's arms.  Sage nodded slowly, eyes clearing slightly as he looked around blankly.

"Cye," he choked out.  "Ask Siellon if he knows what happened to Rowen."

Cye scowled at him, eyes flashing with unchecked fury.  "You're siding with him after what he did?" he snapped, face twisting into a snarl.  Sage paled and moved a few steps away from the younger boy, pulling Kento back with him and motioning for the others to move away.

"Cye," he started slowly.  "Do you remember what happened a few minutes ago?"

"Yes, I remember.  You abandoned us," he growled, leveling his yari angrily.  "You left us injured and defenseless so you could run away."

Ryo growled angrily, eyes flashing.  "He was trying to distract Rowen long enough so we could get up.  He even managed to snap Rowen out of whatever happened to him," Ryo hissed, drawing and leveling his katanas.

"Of course you would take his side," Cye spat, stepping away.  "You've always been eager to accept any enemy or traitor into the group.  The Warlords, the dark elf, and now those two.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you've finally turned against us openly."

Ryo blinked in shock before advancing on the younger boy.  He was stopped short as Sage grasped his arm and shook his head slowly.  Grinding his teeth in frustration, he allowed his friend to pull him back a few steps.  The Warlords only stared at Cye in shock, exchanging baffled expressions with one other.  The two elves motioned to Kento, starting forward warily.  Kento didn't bother with a fair fight, slamming a wave of earth into Cye from behind and knocking him to the ground.

Cye growled and tried to roll free of the rippling earth, gasping as he sank to his waist in the boiling soil.  Unwilling to stay trapped as the others advanced slowly, he threw his yari at Kento to distract him long enough for him to summon energies to pull himself free of the ground.  Black flames rose wildly around him for a moment before an inky shield slammed in place around his mind courtesy of the dark elf staring at him in utter shock.

"What's wrong with him?" Dais asked slowly, still wary of approaching the boy from where he was bound firmly in the ground, thrashing angrily.

Sage's eyes tightened.  "I think it has something to so with him trying to use the darker energies that he was throwing around in the last few minutes of the fight.  I'd be willing to bet that that's what happened to Rowen too."

Neris moved forward to get a better look at Cye, making a face after examining him for a few moments.  Sighing, he turned to the others.

"He doesn't know handling of dark power.  Drew power wrong.  Hurt mind," he stammered out in a thick accent, face screwed up in concentration.

"Since when could you speak?" Kento wailed loudly.

"I listen," he slurred, chewing on his lower lip as he fought to recall the proper words to mind.

Sage shook his head slowly.  "You're learning pretty quickly, I'll give you that," he muttered under his breath.  Ryo glared at him.

"It's not important when he learned it.  We need to know what to do about Rowen and Cye."

Kayura nodded slowly.  "When Rowen wakes up, he'll probably be in about the same shape that Cye is.  We may have to shield him too."

Neris blinked at them before turning to the dark elf hovering just to his side.  Siellon shrugged and said something slowly before turning to place a shield around Rowen from where he lay quivering on the ground.

Neris sighed and turned back to the others.  "Nothing there is to do.  Energy hurt minds.  Might not recover unless a skilled helps."

"Skilled?" Cale asked slowly, blinking in confusion.  "You mean someone that knows how to handle magic well, right?"  Neris thought for a moment before nodding.

"I don't suppose that Siellon is that talented," Sage muttered.  Neris quickly shook his head in denial, his silvery blue mane bouncing wildly.

"Mieren knows what she's doing.  We just need to find her," Cye offered slowly.  As one, the other nine people in the group turned to him in shock.  He began to squirm uncomfortably in the ground.  "What?"

Kento made a face at him as he drew nearer.  "Do you remember why you're in the ground?"  Cye made a face and nodded slowly, raising one head to his head and wincing.

"You okay, Cye?"

Blinking blearily, Cye looked up to Sage blankly for a moment before nodding gingerly.  "I think so.  But my head hurts like hell."

Eyeing the younger boy wearily, Kento told the ground to release him, pulling his friend out of the dirt with little effort.  Cye began alternately brushing himself off and cursing under his breath, some of the phrases drifting to the others causing even Sehkmet to blanch.

"Since when did he curse like that?" Sehkmet demanded.

"I don't know, but I'm so proud," Dais cried out dramatically, pretending to flick a tear from his one good eye, earning himself several irritated glares.

A weak groan stopped any upcoming comments as the group turned slowly to face Rowen, the groggy boy trembling as he pushed himself to his feet.

*     *     *

Rowen groaned weakly as he struggled to his feet, squinting in the gentle flickering light of a small fire only a few paces from him.  Clutching his pounding head in one hand, he fought to maintain his balance, cursing loudly when his head felt as though it were about to split open.  A steadying hand gripped his arm gingerly.  He was thankful for the gentleness of the support since all of his muscles were screaming in pain.

He forced his eyes open slowly, blinking in confusion.  Looking around, he tensed suddenly, ripping free of the steadying grip on his arm and staggering away from everyone else in the small clearing.  The first thing his eyes fell on was a dark elf regarding him warily, onyx flames licking his slight form.  Scowling darkly, he reached out to his own energies, eyes bulging when his mind slammed into an opaque black shield.  Hissing in frustration, he settled on tackling the slender form in front of him, oblivious to the hands pulling at him and calling his name.

Slowly but surely, his hands were painstakingly peeled from around the obsidian throat in his feral grip.  Snarling angrily, he lashed out at the nearest target, his elbow slamming into someone's ribs, creating several loud pops and a startled curse.

Lips curling away from his teeth viciously, he spun to finish his attacker, spitting and kicking in a fury when black ropes ensnared him suddenly.  The ropes stretched and bulged strangely, weakening immensely after a few seconds before simply vanishing.  He spun to face his would be attacker, blinking in shock when he saw a brunette light elf surrounded by wisps of black fire, clutching his head and swaying unsteadily.

Looking around in confusion for a moment, he decided to escape while the other nine in the group appeared to be distracted with the staggering light elf.  He hadn't gone more than three steps before inky cords encircled him.  Roaring wordlessly, he ran his mind around the inside of the shield, placing pressure on thirteen separate points suddenly.  The shield snapped and vanished completely, leaving him free to work.

He slashed the cords around him and began to chant quickly, faltering when the brunet light elf jerked in surprise and spat out a curse before following suit.  The dark elf began his own spell, stopping suddenly when one of the others slapped him in the back of the head.  The earth bucked abruptly, throwing both him and the light elf to the ground.  A secondary roll slammed into the light elf, knocking him into oblivion.

The ground rippled again, forming into a wave to slam into him.  Rowen sneered contemptuously, swatting the wave of soil and stones away from him without faltering in his desperate chanting.  He choked on the next word in his spell when one of the people detached himself from the eight still standing to stand resolutely in front of him.

Blinking in confusion at what appeared to be suicide, he raised one hand to his temple, eyes clouding as he struggled to remember something that clawed incessantly at his thoughts.  His head felt as though it had been hollowed out and packed with cotton, the only thing keeping him from believing that it had been was the furious pounding.

He struggled to clear his vision as he regarded the half-naked blond boy standing in front of him, trembling slightly.  Sighing in confusion and resignation, he dropped his hold on the black flames surrounding him, hoping that his mind would clear without that particular distraction.  The world expanded around him slightly as the dark energies left him, leaving him standing on eye level with the blond a few feet from him.

Head spinning wildly, he stumbled forward hesitantly, eyes rolling back in his head as he slumped bonelessly into the arms of the young blond watching him with watering eyes.

*     *     *

No one was sure what to think when Rowen first swayed to his feet, looking around at them uncertainly.  Ryo immediately moved over to steady him, jumping slightly when Rowen jerked free of his gentle support.  With a snarl and an angry hiss, he leapt at Siellon, struggling to throttle the dark elf with his bare hands.  Kento and Sehkmet darted forward to separate the two combatants.  Growling viciously, Rowen lashed out, his elbow slamming into Sehkmet's ribs and knocking him into Kento, who began spitting out obscenities at the top of his lungs.

Cye called out Rowen's name futilely, cursing and summoning energies of his own to restrain his friend.  The others could only watch in horror as obsidian flames flared around him suddenly, ropes of power forming to ensnare Rowen.  The cords flickered unsteadily as Cye cried out in pain, clutching his head in quaking hands and stumbling around as he struggled not to fall to his knees.  The ropes vanished suddenly when he was no longer able to control the energies whipping around him.

Looking up with watering eyes, he saw Rowen turning to leave.  Snarling to himself, he slammed more cords around his friend, gasping when Rowen retaliated by snapping the shield around his mind and slashing the ensnaring weaves around him.  The backlash of power neatly dropped Cye to the ground.  He was vaguely aware of his friends calling his name when he slumped to the earth.

Cye nearly jumped out of his skin when Rowen began to chant furiously.  Cursing loudly as he lurched drunkenly to his feet, he began a spell of his own, preparing to throw the flaring energies forward to cancel out whatever the blue-haired idiot was trying.  He steeled his mind when Rowen began to gain height until he topped eight feet, muscles bulging wildly as he continued spitting out his spell.

The ground bucked suddenly, golden orange fires trailing the rolling earth as it obeyed the mind controlling it.  Already off balance, he toppled to the ground but refused to ease up on his chanting.  He only had time to stare in shock as a second wave descended upon him.  Darkness swallowed the world.

*     *     *

Kento pushed Sehkmet off of him roughly, ignoring the older man's grumbling and cursing as he scrambled to his feet.  Looking around, he paled suddenly.  Cye was surrounded by black flames, as were Rowen and Siellon.  When the three idiots began to spit out spells at one another, he growled in vexation and slammed his open palm against the back of the dark elf's head, effectively stopping the spell he was casting.

"Kento!  Stop Cye!  I'll get Rowen!  Everyone else, get out of the way!"

He only looked up for a moment before shrugging and doing what Sage asked, trusting his friend to know what he was doing.  He didn't wait for the others to scramble out of the clearing before instructing the ground to roll sharply, knocking everyone off of their feet.  When Cye didn't pause in what he was casting, he slammed the ground into his best friend, careful not to do any real damage as he rendered his friend unconscious.

His task done, he turned to face Sage.  Sage had moved to stand directly in front of Rowen, back straight and eyes glistening with unshed tears.  Rowen immediately cut off whatever he was saying, blinking in confusion and releasing the dark energy he was holding.  He immediately shrank back to his normal height, just topping six feet.  Swaying slightly in now oversized clothes, he looked blankly at Sage before moving forward almost hesitantly.  He hadn't made it more than one step before he collapsed, Sage darting forward to catch him before he crumpled to the ground.

Sighing loudly, Sage made his way back into the clearing with Rowen draped limply in his arms.  He was grumbling softly when he began working on his friend, wisps of emerald fire licking his outstretched fingers obediently.  He nodded slightly to himself before looking up.

"Is anyone hurt?"

"Most of us are from his first attack," Ryo muttered as he entered the clearing, the Warlords and elves following immediately behind him.

Sage only sighed before moving over to Sehkmet.  After a moment, he made a face and moved back to Rowen, resuming whatever he had been doing.

"You can fix everyone else," Sage mumbled, eyes glazed as he worked.

"Hey Sehkmet," Cale asked slowly as his friend made his rounds.  "Weren't you hit with one of your little toys in the fight?"

"Yea.  Why?"

"Shouldn't you be dead then?" Dais wailed.  "We all saw what those things did to the tree."

Sehkmet shrugged.  "I made the things.  I don't know why, but they can't hurt me."

Ryo grumbled something under his breath about 'master of venom' that Sehkmet was sure he didn't want to hear.  Making a face, he moved over to Cye.

"Uh… do we really want him up right now?" he muttered to the others, rolling his eyes at the answering scowls.  "Fine, whatever.  Hey, Neris.  Tell Siellon to be ready to shield him if he tries anything."

Cye immediately stirred when Sehkmet moved back from him.  Kento didn't hesitate before moving in and pinning his friend gently, hoping that Cye would recognize him like Rowen had Sage.  The youngest Ronin groaned loudly as his eyes fluttered open.  Eyes focusing suddenly, he snarled and took a swing at Kento, who blocked it easily and waited patiently for his friend to snap out of it.  Cye made a face and scowled at Siellon, who shrugged and murmured something to the struggling boy.

Taking a deep breath, Cye growled something at Kento in a language that he didn't understand.  Neris snorted and called out a response to Cye that caused him to blink and look up at Kento blankly for a moment.

"Wrong language, huh?" he muttered darkly in the elf's direction.  Looking up at Kento, he made a face and sighed loudly.  "Let me up."

"You thinking straight yet?"

Cye scowled at him darkly.  "Get the hell offa me before I put your ass on a diet."

Flinching at the threat, Kento hopped up and pulled Cye to his feet, grinning ruefully at the younger boy.  Cye trembled slightly as he struggled with himself, finally sighing and looking around with relatively calm features.

"Is Rowen okay?"

Kento shrugged and glanced over to where Sage was still prodding at Rowen with delicate wisps of power, growling angrily to himself about his energies being depleted and pathetic.  After a few minutes, Rowen relaxed and went limp against the ground, panting softly in the silence.

Not waiting to be asked, Kento hollowed out a large cavern in the ground and trudged forward to help Sage move their unconscious friend.

To Be Continued…

I managed to embarrass a poor hapless waiter at a Japanese restaurant by asking him to translate some very dirty phrases that I knew in Japanese.  I've never seen a grown man turn quite that color…


	8. Part 8

Obsidian Fires

Part 8

By Mieren

Mieren whimpered softly as the sun peeked on the horizon, desperately clutching a bloody mass of fabric to her shredded stomach.  Trembling in the cool morning air, she wished again that she had the strength to heal the wounds blanketing her pale form.

A rough tongue rasped her cheek, catching her attention enough to turn her head slightly towards the great cat that had survived the last battle.  She reached out with one bloodstained hand and caressed the leopard's smooth fur, hooking her hand around its neck to pull herself slowly to a sitting position.  The leopard made a soft noise in its throat and nuzzled Mieren worriedly when she slumped against it, panting loudly.

Licking her face one last time, it slowly closed its teeth around the edges of the bloody rags Mieren was clinging to, pulling the sopped cloth away from the vicious disemboweling wound across her stomach.  Crying out weakly, she reached for the still bundle in its mouth, eyes watering when it moved out of reach.  She only had the strength to shiver slightly in protest as it moved away with the cold roll of cloth in its mouth, disappearing into the trees in a smooth lope.

Once the massive feline vanished from view, she slumped against the nearest tree like some broken thing, quivering slightly in agony.  Sighing weakly, Mieren pulled another strip from her tattered cloak and wound it firmly around her now-slender midsection, grinding her teeth at the burning pain arising from her movements.  Forcing herself to her feet, she stumbled deeper into the trees in search of a place where she could rest.

*     *     *

Ryo stiffened suddenly when Rowen groaned softly in his sleep and rolled over sluggishly in the hollowed out area Kento had created in the cool earth.  Rowen made a soft growling noise in the back of his throat as he opened his eyes and squinted around blankly.

"Heads up, guys," Ryo called out firmly.  "Rowen's awake."

Everyone in the small cavern immediately came to full attention and moved closer to the two of them warily.  Rowen only blinked at them once before his expression degenerated into something murderous.

"Calm down, Rowen," Sage murmured, moving forward with no regard for his well being.  Rowen twitched slightly at his voice, beginning to look confused.

"Why are they here?" he snarled, pointing to three of the Warlords.

Cye's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.  "They're came to help find Mieren, remember?"

Rowen raised one hand to his forehead slowly as though the movement caused him great pain.  "Then what about the dark elf?"

"Switched sides when we saved him," Sehkmet called out softly.

Rowen's eyes narrowed.  "What the hell is that?" he snarled, indicating Sehkmet with a small toss of his head.

"What's left of the ugliest Warlord in history," Dais snickered.

"Gee, thanks.  You don't look much better, you know."

"And what does that mean?" Rowen snapped.

Sage exhaled noisily.  "Dais and Sehkmet pissed of the two elves, and they retaliated much like Mieren would have."  Dais flinched under his stare and opened his cloak to display the six arms he now sported.

Rowen trembled slightly as though fighting with himself for control.  Sapphire eyes flashing, he stood and turned to leave, features twisting into a snarl when Ryo grabbed his arm to stop him.

"I'm sorry, Rowen," Ryo said quickly.  "I won't bother you anymore.  Just don't run off again."  Rowen blinked and looked at him blankly for a moment.

"Why would I want you guys to come along?  You'll just slow me down.  I don't even know why you came here in the first place."

"Rowen," Cye began slowly.  "We all came here to look for Mieren.  Don't you remember?"  He turned slowly away from the opening of the cave, staring intently at the youngest Ronin.  He walked back to the younger boy with questioning eyes.

"What happened to you?" he asked slowly, tweaking one of Cye's pointed ears.  Cye's eyes widened.

"You don't remember?" he whispered.  Ryo looked to Kento and Sage warily when Rowen shook his head slightly.  They quickly gathered into a small huddle and spoke frantically, careful not to let their voices carry.

"Um… how are we going to break this to him?" Kento asked the others silently.

Ryo shook his head.   "I don't know."

"We should see how much he remembers first," Sage said carefully, turning to face his best friend with worried eyes.  "Uh, Rowen?  How much do you remember about what happened to us?"

For the first time since waking up, the scowl slid from Rowen's face, replaced immediately by utter confusion.  He raised his hand to his forehead again hesitantly, eyes narrowing in pain.

"Do you remember the caves?" Ryo asked.  Rowen struggled with himself for a moment before nodding slowly, the memory dawning in his eyes.

"How about Kimen and Turriv?" Sage asked carefully.  Rowen paled suddenly and nodded, looking almost ill.

"And the original Mouri," he murmured, indicating Cye.  "I remember."  Without waiting on them, he tried to leave a second time, eyes shifting into a smoldering garnet as he entered the early evening dimness.  The others scrambled after him.  Rowen's eyes narrowed dangerously.  "I told you I don't want you slowing me down.  Go home."

"We can't," Cye growled back at him.

"And why not?"

"The lighter magics aren't working and we can't use the dark without frying ourselves in the process.  Besides, we're not leaving you or Mieren here."

Rowen and Cye locked gazes and engaged in a battle of wills.  Kayura stepped between them, scowling angrily.

"We don't have time for you two to engage in a testosterone-induced pissing contest," she snapped, staring them both down instantly.  "We are going to find Mieren as a group whether you like it or not.  And if either of you utters a single word to the contrary, I'm going to make you regret the day your father first laid eyes on your mother.  Understand?"

Rowen and Cye continued to glare at each other, but both nodded acquiescence.  Kayura smiled angrily and flipped her hair out of her face.  "Now," she said firmly.  "Neris, where did Siellon say that the next major battlefield was?"

The two elves engaged in a swift interchange before Neris pointed north.  "The mountains."

Cye's eyes glazed over slightly.  "In the final day of the War of Sorcerers, the Exodus spell ravaged the lands and world to the horizon and beyond.  The Mountains of Omnipotence were once level plains that stretched for endless miles.  The shock wave from the Exodus spell caused the earth to scream in protest, the grounds bucking in agony as the fiery spell unleashed devastation upon the world, the fiery blast extending over three fourths the way around the planet in places where the defenses were not sufficient.  The grounds heaved, and the mountains rose in the massacred grasslands.  The sheer force of the spell left a magical resonance in the air that can be detected and used by even the most unskilled mages and novices," Cye trailed off suddenly as his eyes came into focus.  He looked around and started down a well-hidden path without thinking about it.

"Uh, Cye?"

"Yea?"

"Where are you going?" Kento asked patiently.

Cye blinked.  "The direct trail to the mountain's peak is this way."

The Ronins and Warlords looked at each other in consternation for a moment.

Ryo cleared his throat softly.  "And how do you know that?" he asked sweetly.  Cye pursed his lips thoughtfully before shrugging and starting down the path again.

"I have no idea.  But the peak is this way."

Sage poked Neris in the ribs demandingly.  "Is he right?"  The elf looked at Cye before nodding worriedly.

"How in the hell does he know that?" Cale demanded, falling in behind the others.

Kento shrugged.  "I don't know.  Hell, I thought he had stopped doing that."

Sage snagged his shoulder and stared at him incredulously.  "He's done this before?" he hissed angrily.  Kento shrugged.

"He used to do it all the time in high school.  It really freaked me out for awhile.  After I met you, I figured it was something like your little psychotic thing."

"That's psychic," Sage grumbled as he left to walk beside Rowen.

"I meant what I said," Kento called out happily.  Sage's cheek twitched.

"You should have told us about that," Ryo grumped.

"I didn't think it was a big deal.  I thought he stopped that when we started fighting the Dynasty, after all," Kento muttered defensively.

"What all did he say when he did that before?" Dais asked slowly.  Kento shrugged and made baffled face.

"Half the time I didn't have any idea, and the other half usually depended on whatever we were doing at the time.  The ones where I didn't know at the time usually came up within the next few days."

"You mean that he was telling the future?" Cale snapped softly.  Kento paused and stared at the ground for a moment before shrugging and nodding.

"Pretty much.  He used to talk kinda weird when he did that.  I never really understood what he was saying.  It was some pretty weird stuff."

"Define weird," Sehkmet growled, eyes flashing angrily.

"Well… the first day I met him, he said something that really freaked me out when he was at my place.  Let me see.  It was 'blazing flames blinding the night sky in the glaciers of forbidden fires, the black lights shall destroy the white.  Crystals of living obsidian will banish the presence of the light, and thus shall the world be cast into darkness.  In the blackest shadows of the night shall a figure emerge, and he shall stain the ground with the blood of his friends before freeing the world to the light' I believe.  Does that classify as weird?"

Ryo paled.  "Do you have any idea what you just said?" he hissed, eyes wide.

Kento thought carefully for a moment before paling.  "Oh shit."

"I don't think I want to travel with you guys anymore," Dais murmured, looking ahead to Rowen warily before eyeing Cye uncertainly.  "Were those his exact words?"

"To the last syllable.  It freaked me out so badly at the time that I remembered that one to the word."

"That's it.  I'm outta here," Sehkmet muttered, looking around uncertainly.

Kayura looked to the stars above for a moment before sighing loudly.  "There's no place like home.  There's no place like home," she whispered, clicking her heels together noisily.

"And how would you know American literature?" Sage called over his shoulder.

"Unlike the idiots trailing me, I'm not oblivious to the world."

"Oh, shut up," Dais grumbled.

"Bite me."

"Where?"

"Can I kill him now?" Kayura pleaded, tugging on Ryo's sleeve.  Ryo rolled his eyes wearily and shook his head.

"This is serious," Cale growled, looking around to the others.  "How often was he right?"

Kento swallowed nervously.  "I'm not sure.  Some of the things he said didn't make any sense to me.  They may have just been things that haven't happened yet.  For the most part, he only spouted obscure history and premonitions that always seem to come true at some time or another."

"What were some of the others?" Ryo murmured, eyes worried.

"Well… There were a lot of the things.  Give me a second.  Uh… 'Destroying a dimension and the faith in the light, a shadow of the darkest midnight will be reborn in the billowing fires of the brightest opal lights.  A sacrifice of blue fires shall lead to the freedom of the worlds.'  We all know what that sounds like, right?"

Ryo and the Warlords nodded numbly.

"Any others that haven't been fulfilled?" Cale whispered, eyes wild.

Kento made a face.  "Quite a few.  I'll tell you when I remember what he said."

"Think harder," Kayura hissed.

"Um… something about an elemental dragon of fire and air.  I don't remember anything past that except that it was blue and had a white mane.  Sorry."

"Blue?" Ryo murmured, eyes narrowing.

"White mane?" Kayura breathed, eyebrows lowering thoughtfully.

"Do you know who that sounds like?" Ryo asked sweetly, eyes flashing.

Kento tripped on his own feet.  "Uh… yea," he stammered, staring at the ground.

"Then do you remember anything else about that one?" Cale demanded.  Kento shook his head forcefully and resumed studying the ground.

"I can get Cye to repeat it if you really want," he murmured.

"He remembers what all he said when he does that?" Ryo stammered.

Kento shook his head forcefully.  "Not a word of it.  But if you repeat part of it in front of him, he'll finish it."

"I can only imagine how you discovered that," Kayura muttered, rolling her eyes.

Shrugging to himself, he trotted up to the lead to walk beside Cye, eyeing his best friend nervously when he didn't acknowledge his presence.  He cleared his throat softly with no better results.  Sighing, he began with what he remembered, hating himself for playing with his friend's mind like this.

"Uh… 'Spawning of the shadow's past…'" he murmured, waiting for Cye to pick up the premonition.  Cye's shoulders went rigid and his eyes blanked suddenly.  Kento struggled not to sigh again.  He couldn't stand seeing his best friend like that, and it didn't help to know that he was at fault this time.

"Spawning of the shadow's past, elements shall follow the dragon's fires through the night airs as blue armor framed in white rises to his call.  Looking to the midnight stars and shrieking fury into the night, shall he fight the world alone.  Armors rise to fight again, falling to burning arts under a dragon's tears.  Ancient fires shall rise again, breaking free as dimensions fall to fight the powers of past mistakes now broken into shards.  Fires rise and fires die, falling to the dragon's cry."

Nodding slowly, Kento edged back to the others, eyes watering slightly.  He looked to his friends uncertainly.  Ryo cleared his throat roughly.

"Where did you get the idea that it was blue with a white mane?"

Kento shrugged.  "Weren't you listening?  You saw Mieren when she fought, her scales were pretty much armor and kinda contrasted with her white mane."

"The colors don't matter," Cale hissed angrily.  Kayura nodded in agreement.

"The other clues pointed out plainly what it means.  'Spawning of the shadow's past' is definitely Mieren's kid.  'Midnight stars' is a reference to both Mieren and Rowen.  'Armors rise to fight again.'  We're going to be stuck fighting this kid and you know it," Kayura hissed, glancing warily at Rowen's back.

Dais began studying the ground intently.  "What was it about 'Ancient fires'?"

Ryo paled and looked up.  "Cye mentioned 'past mistakes now broken into shards' as well.  Our ancestors created Talpa, and he made the Armor of Chains.  The armors are only shards of the original, in a way.  But why would they be fighting us?"

Kento shook his head slowly, closing his eyes wearily.  "He also said that we're going to lose," he breathed, beginning to tremble slightly.  "Cye hasn't been wrong yet."

Silence greeted his statement of the obvious.  Sage glanced over at them when they went silent and fell back to walk beside them again.

"Rowen's not talking to me anyway," he murmured at their inquisitive stares.  "I've just been wasting my breath for awhile now.  What're you guys talking about?"

Ryo took a deep breath to steady himself and relayed the conversation to Sage, who was all but white before he was halfway through.  He looked up ahead to Cye uncertainly and swallowed a lump forming in his throat.

"And do you have any idea of when this is going to happen?"

Kento shook his head.  "The first one Cye ever uttered in my presence looks like its only about to come true now, so there's no way to tell."

Sage nodded slowly and walked over to Cye.  "Hey Cye.  'Blazing flames blinding the night sky…'"

Cye looked up towards the sky blankly, eyes glazing.  "Blazing flames blinding the night sky in the glaciers of forbidden fires, the black lights shall destroy the white.  Crystals of living obsidian will banish the presence of the light, and thus shall the world be cast into darkness.  In the blackest shadows of the night shall a figure emerge, and he shall stain the ground with the blood of his friends before freeing the world to the light."

Making a face, Sage started again.  "'In the blackest shadows…'"

Cye twitched.  "In the blackest shadows of the night shall a figure emerge, and he shall stain the ground with the blood of his friends before freeing the world to the light."

Sage nodded thoughtfully and opened his mouth to try again when Kento snagged his shoulder and pulled him away from the younger boy.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" he spat.  Sage made a face.

"I'm trying to see if I can get him to say anything else that may help us."

"It won't help!" Kento hissed angrily, eyes flashing.  "Everything he says will come true no matter what you do.  I know.  I tried once when I saw it coming.  Trying to change what I thought was going to happen was the direct cause of its happening."

"You didn't tell us _that_," Ryo drawled, moving over to join the argument.

Kento paled.  "I'd rather not talk about it.  It wasn't exactly an enjoyable experience, you know."

"What exactly happened?" Sage murmured.  Kento closed his eyes and swung back to the trail to catch up with the others, who hadn't stopped to wait on them when they fell behind to talk.

"Kento…" Ryo growled.

"I tried to kill Mieren to prevent what happened to me and to Rowen.  Are you satisfied?" he hissed, refusing to look up from the ground.

Sage and Ryo immediately paled.

"You knew what was going to happen?" Sage whispered, eyes widening.

"My God, Kento.  What did he say?" Ryo stammered as he began to study the ground along with his friend.

Kento sighed noisily.  "As an innocent falls to the darkness, a shadow waits in the midnight's sheltering arms, hidden and alone."  Cye froze and began to tremble slightly.  "Shit.  I didn't mean for him to hear."

"As an innocent falls to the darkness, a shadow waits in the midnight's sheltering arms, hidden and alone.  Only the light shall evade destruction brought by the first shadow's coming, but will fall to the second.  Golden fires rise to a plea coming from the night, and thus shall the Diamond be taken.  Flames of sapphire will fade into the night, and the darkness will fall in the wake of their destruction."

Scrubbing his hands through his unruly bluish gray hair, Kento looked to the others.  "Yuley was killed by the demon that came while Mieren remained hidden.  When we were captured, only Sage escaped without something happening to him.  The second demon to come along was the one that got him.  Turriv came in golden flames."

"And your armor is sometimes called Diamond," Sage breathed.

Kento nodded sharply.  "Rowen died in blue flames, and Mieren led an attack on the Dynasty shortly thereafter.  But if I hadn't attacked Mieren, she wouldn't have called Turriv and she would have been there to protect Sage from what happened with the wolves.  If she hadn't fought me, she would have been strong enough in the battle that I wouldn't have been injured.  She wouldn't have passed out that night from using energies she didn't understand and would have been there to have stopped Cye from casting the spell that accidentally killed Rowen.  Second guessing the premonitions doesn't help!"

The ensuing silence was broken by Rowen's snarl.

"We're here."

*     *     *

White Blaze roared furiously as a portal of black flames rose in the distance, nearly causing Mia to fall out of her chair.  She glared at the tiger angrily, unable to feel the presence of the dark magic at work like he could.  Growling softly, he herded her out of the room and into the basement and hovered by the door protectively, ignoring her protests as the fur on his neck and shoulders rose dangerously.  She might not be able to sense it, but _something_ was moving in quickly from the distance.

*     *     *

For at least the hundredth time since passing through a wall of fog lining the edge of the magically saturated area on the mountain, Cye jerked his cloak closer and spat out a curse that caused both Siellon and Neris to blink in shock.  He peeked up from under his heavy hood and swore again as he looked out across the endless fields of ice stretching to the horizon.  He flexed his frozen fingers from where he had them jammed fiercely under his arms, scowling darkly at the snowy trail in front of him.

He heard a soft crunch behind him and turned to look at it curiously.  Sehkmet was lying in the snow between two largish trees where he had apparently collapsed, Dais hovering over him worriedly.  Rowen snarled at them angrily and swatted the white-haired man out of the way as he stomped by, ruby eyes flashing in the night.  Dais didn't even look at him askance, merely hopping out of the snow and pulling his best friend with him.  Steadying his swaying friend carefully, he ripped off his cloak and set it about Sehkmet's shoulders before lifting him onto his back and starting down the trail in an unsteady lope to catch up with the others.

Cye's eyes narrowed as he looked around to the others.  Kayura was curled up on Sage's back and had been for some time, Cale riding just behind her with a glazed look in his eyes.  Sage had done something that he usually tried to avoid, shifting into his wolf-like form for the sole purpose of covering himself with thick gray fur.  Ryo and Kento had shifted into their demonic forms as well to conserve what little heat they could with their thick fur.

After a moment, Dais caught up with him, squinting at him wildly with his one eye in the darkness before reluctantly shifting it to a glowing crimson.  He made a face and trotted over to Sage, murmuring something too softly for Cye to make out.  Sage blinked his golden eyes and looked over at him thoughtfully for a few seconds before shrugging and moving over.  Cye squawked indignantly as he was hauled off the ground by his friend and placed just in front of Kayura, who gasped and spit out something about a 'human icicle' that he was sure he didn't want to hear.

Scrubbing one hand through his hair angrily and making a face, Cye froze in shock and realized suddenly what had caused Dais to ask Sage to carry him.  Ice coated his nose and most of his jaw and was beginning to form in his hair.  He experimentally tried to pull the edge of one of the clear crystals off of his cheek, grunting when his skin tore and began to bleed.  Eyes narrowing, he decided to leave it there.

Neris growled out something to him as he huddled against Sage as he walked stiffly down the trail.  Cye nodded slowly.

"Hey Ryo.  Kento.  Come over here."

The two immediately spun and circled back to walk on either side of him.  Kento's golden eyes widened when he glanced up.

"Damn Cye.  You're blue."

Cye sniffed and decided to ignore him.  "You two need to do something about Neris and Siellon.  They can't keep this up for much longer."

"What about Rowen?" Sage murmured over his shoulder.

Cye looked ahead to the blue head a little ways ahead of them on the trail and shrugged stiffly.  "He's fine.  I don't think the cold bothers him."

Ryo and Kento looked up to their friend and sighed loudly, their breaths billowing clearly in the sharp air.  They spun sharply and moved to the elves.  Neris hopped onto Kento's back willingly, lying down fully and burying his hands in the thick golden brown fur beneath him with a grin.  Siellon decided to be difficult, growling at Ryo and storming off to walk just behind Rowen.

Ryo glanced over at Cye and sighed at the demanding gesture thrown at him.  Circling through the trees well out of the dark elf's line of vision, he darted in from the side and pinned the squirming figure with a grin.  Scowling darkly, Siellon surrendered and allowed himself to be placed on Ryo's back, growling vulgarities into the frigid night.  His curses immediately ceased when he laid along the heavily muscled back beneath him and burrowed his hands and face alike in thick black fur with a contented sigh, trying to bury himself beneath the leathery wings on either side of him.  Ryo rolled his eyes and threw a grin over to Kento when he heard Neris snickering softly.

"Are we there yet?" Sehkmet whined from atop of Dais, looking around weakly with a decidedly blue face.  Dais made a face at him over his shoulder.

"No we're not, you cold-blooded idiot," he grumbled.

"Not my fault," he grumped, glaring over at the dark elf.

"One thing though," Dais murmured.

"What?"

"Remind me to put your ass on a diet."

Sehkmet twitched at the threat and looked at his friend fearfully before his mouth twisted upwards in the semblance of a grin.

"Not a good idea.  Remember what happened last time?"  Dais winced.

Cye only looked at them for a moment before asking, "And what was that?"

Sehkmet stiffened and Dais struggled to keep from grinning.

"He went vegetarian."

Cye blinked and frowned slightly.  "And?"

"He devastated the trees in the Dynasty," Cale snickered.

Exchanging baffled looks with the other Ronins he turned to the Warlords again.

"And?"

"Did I forget to mention that the only trees that would grow in the Dynasty are evergreens?"

Struggling to keep from snickering and failing miserably, Cye turned to the scaly Warlord.  "You're as bad as Kento."

"Shut up," Kento growled, refusing to look back at them.  Ryo and Sage snickered evilly.

"What did he do?" Kayura giggled.

"Last time we put him on a diet, he mowed the lawn with his teeth," Ryo called out merrily, squeaking and darting back to walk beside Sage when Kento snapped at him viciously, his teeth clicking shut in empty air as Ryo slid beyond his reach.

"It was just the clover," he grumped defensively.

Sehkmet looked over at him curiously.  "Those are the ones on the ground with heart-shaped leaves that are kinda tangy, right?"  Kento nodded and grinned at him.

"They're pretty good, aren't they?"

"Yea.  But you haven't lived until you've roasted a few earthworms with a little salt and a few types of pepper."

"Been there.  Done that.  Have the souvenir T-shirt.  I assume you've done the same with the grasshoppers, right?"

"Of course.  Those're great!  Nice and crunchy."

"So are the earthworms if you cook 'em right."

"Why bother?  The cicadas taste better anyway and you don't have to cook 'em."

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Kayura moaned, taking on a greenish tint.

"You're going to have to wait in line for that one," Cye groaned.

Kento turned to blink at them curiously.  "What?"

"Shut up," Sage spat out as sweetly as he could manage.

Neris grinned widely and mumbled something in Siellon's direction, sending the dark elf into a fit of laughing.  Cye looked over at them curiously.  Neris lifted his head and began speaking haltingly in horribly broken Japanese.

"Siellon says worms better if made in soup but best is lizard gut sandwich."

Dais paled and stumbled, nearly dropping Sehkmet into the snow.  The scaly Warlord looked at the dark elf thoughtfully.

"Hey elf-boy.  Ask your friend what he uses for seasoning."

Neris blinked.  "Sea sunning?"

"Seasoning.  You know, flavor or spices when he cooks it."

Making a face, he mumbled something to the dark elf.  Siellon blinked and made a face at the Warlord.  Neris grinned.

"He wants know why you cook it."

This time, even Kento made a choking noise.  Sehkmet's face changed color to match his scales.  The two elves looked at each other and snickered.

"I'm gonna be sick," Cale moaned.

"Why?  It's no worse than some of the stuff you cook," Kayura teased, elbowing him gently in the ribs.

"Gee thanks."

Rowen growled angrily at them and swung into the trees suddenly, hitching his cloak protectively around himself and huddling in the snow.  The others immediately stopped and followed him off of the trail, looking to the east and waiting expectantly.  The sun burst over the horizon suddenly, bathing the area in burning light.  The snow melted before their eyes, the water sinking into the ground and vanishing completely in the span of a few seconds.

The Ronins and Warlords looked to each other incredulously before turning to the elves with inquisitive expressions.  The two elves looked at each other and shrugged, hopping off of Ryo and Kento to begin poking around curiously.

Cye stared at them for a moment before sighing and turning to the others.

"They're as confused as we are," he mumbled, eyebrows quirking when the ice on his face and hair melted suddenly.  He shrugged in resignation and began looking around.

"I thought the hills were supposed to be glaciers or some such," Sage muttered as he shifted back to his centaur form, squirming uncomfortably as it continued to get warmer rapidly.

Ryo looked over at him with a quizzical expression as he shifted back suddenly.  "The flames are in the night sky, aren't they?  Theoretically, it should be warmer in the night."

"He also mentioned glaciers," Kento said slowly, looking around blankly.

"The glaciers of forbidden fires might have something to do with the time that you can get at the crystals of living obsidian," Kayura murmured, careful not to let her voice drift over to Cye.

"Flames might be magic," Neris suggested, looking to them questioningly and shucking off his heavy cloak.  He pointed to the sun on the horizon before peeling off his shirt.  "About to be hot," he murmured.

"Good," Sehkmet grumbled.  "I'm tired of being frozen."

Neris shook his head forcefully.  "Hot like it was cold.  Will be bad."

"How hot are we talking about here?" Cale whispered, eyes widening.

Cye glanced over at them and turned to Siellon.  _"Question.  How hot is it about to get?  Neris just said that it's going to be pretty bad."_

_"He's right, Mouri of the Torrent."_

Cye made a face.  _"For the last time, my name is Cye.  Now how bad are we talking about?"_

Siellon sighed loudly and peered around questioningly.  _"Well, I'll see if I can get it in numbers that you understand.  At what temperatures does water freeze and boil?"_

"Zero and one hundred."

Looking around uncertainly, he dropped to his knees and began drawing symbols in the dirt carefully, making a face as he rose and brushed himself off.

_"Well Mouri of the… uh… Cye, it couldn't have been any warmer than around one hundred and fifty below zero a little while ago.  So if I'm right, by the early afternoon, it'll pass around two hundred and fifty."_

Cye paled instantly, jerking suddenly when Ryo placed one hand on his shoulder.  The youngest Ronin looked at him numbly and cleared his throat hesitantly.

"He said that sometime in the afternoon, it will pass two fifty."

Every head swiveled towards him instantly.

"What is that in Celsius?" Sage murmured, swallowing nervously.

"That IS Celsius," Cye breathed, sinking to the ground bonelessly.

Ryo cleared his throat loudly.  "If that's the case, I think we need to get moving.  There has to be somewhere safer than this to stay."  The others nodded agreement and followed him uncertainly as he swung back to the trail, Sage pausing to toss his cloak over Rowen and pick him up gently.

Rowen growled and tried to buck out of his grip, freezing when the cloaks wrapped around him fell free, awarding him with a clear view of Sage and the early morning light.  Ceasing his struggling, he pulled the cloaks back in place and decided to remain still as they moved out.

To Be Continued…

I learned how to make a bomb today using nothing more than a Cornish hen and a pressure cooker… Go figure.


	9. Part 9

Obsidian Fires

Part 9

By Mieren

White Blaze hissed furiously, back arching as something heavy slammed into the front door for the third time.  He froze in shock and sank to the ground as the door was forced open suddenly, amber flames licking a lithe figure as it ambled into the house leisurely, golden-brown eyes locking with the tiger's.

*     *     *

Cale staggered to a halt, panting raggedly in the burning heat.  His skin suddenly tingled and went cold, causing him to sigh and relax in relief.  The others looked at him curiously, sweat running down their curious faces in rivulets.  Concentrating furiously, deep indigo flames licked his fingers as he began studying the surrounding area.

The area around them slowly began to darken, the shadows shooting across the trees and trails blocking the fierce light of the sun above.

"Thank you," Sage gasped into the slightly cooler air.

Dais made a face.  "You could have done that earlier," he grumped.

Ryo flopped onto the ground leisurely.  "I don't see why you guys are griping.  It's not that hot," he said slowly, blinking when everyone, except Rowen, glared at him angrily.  "What?"

"It's not hot?" Kayura asked slowly, eyes narrowing.

"Master of fire," Neris muttered, throwing him a gesture that Ryo was certain he did not want to understand.

"Can you do something about this?" Cye asked slowly, eyes growing hopeful.

Ryo blinked again.  "Well," he drawled, looking around uncertainly, "if I can control fires and the essence of heat, I don't see why I can't banish its presence…"

Kento and the Warlords glared furiously at him when he trailed off.  Their scowls faded slowly as the incinerating heat abated suddenly, leaving them at nearly subzero temperatures before Ryo could stop what he was doing.

"I'm not sure which is worse, the heat or Ryo's tampering with the temperature," Cye grumbled, ripping his cloak out of his bag and hunkering down in it instantly.

"Make up your mind," Ryo growled, temper flaring.

Not wanting to hear the upcoming argument, Sage wandered over to where Rowen had plopped down in the shade of a largish tree, cloak drawn about his shoulders defensively.

"How're you holding up?" he asked as he flopped down beside his best friend, ignoring the glare thrown in his direction.

"Go away," Rowen snapped, eyes flashing a furious crimson.

Sage made a face.  "You can drop the act, Rowen.  I'm not buying it," he said slowly, making a point of catching his friend's gaze in his own.  Cold sapphire blue eyes met his own and he had to struggle not to flinch under the vicious glare.

"Are you going to leave, or must I make you?"

Grinding his teeth and refusing to swallow nervously, Sage met his friend glare for glare, praying that he wasn't going to get himself hurt doing this.

"How long have you been traveling with us now?  Almost two days, isn't it?" Sage asked carefully, building up his courage slowly.

Rowen blinked at the unexpected question.  "And?" he sneered, quickly replacing the confusion etched on his features with a scowl.

"Aren't you hungry yet?"

Rowen froze, his back and jaw going rigid.  "Are you suicidal?" he hissed, eyes shining wickedly.  Sage locked his jaw and turned to face the other way, presenting his back to Rowen and tilting his head to the side.  He grinned weakly when he heard Rowen inhale sharply through clenched teeth.

"Turn around," he snapped, eyes flashing.

Sage cocked one eyebrow insolently.  "I knew it."

"How did you figure it out?" Rowen sighed, making a point of not looking up.

"Well, for starters, Cye snapped out of his insanity after a few minutes the first time he tried it, and within a few seconds after the second.  There is no way you could be out of your mind for this long."

"What else?" Rowen prompted dejectedly.

"You're not eating again."

Rowen flinched as though struck.  "Now look, Sage.  I have my reasons for this and I don't want you saying anything to the others."

Sage nodded slowly.  "You're afraid that you're going to hurt us.  You heard what Cye said, didn't you?"  Rowen nodded numbly, drawing a ragged breath.  "How much did you hear?"

"Too much for my liking."

"That's hardly descriptive."

"I heard that I'm going to 'stain the ground with the blood of my friends' before I 'free the world to the light' or some such.  I don't want you guys anywhere near me when I'm on the field ahead."

"Field?"

Rowen twitched.  "Yea.  There's a field up ahead with strange structures of crystal or ice on it.  I'm not really sure."

"How do you know this?" Sage whispered fiercely.

"I don't know how I know.  I just do," he said softly, poking at the ground with one finger, drawing rough sketches of strange runes in the dry earth.  "You're not going to tell them, are you?"

Sage sighed and scrubbed one hand through his hair.  He wasn't used to hearing Rowen plead like this for any reason.  Lips twitching, he decided to extract a price for his silence.

"On one condition."

"What?" Rowen asked warily, shifting away slightly at the look in Sage's eyes.  He set his jaw stubbornly.  "No way."

"The others are going to get suspicious," Sage informed him slowly, deciding to turn the one thing against Rowen that he couldn't counter.  Logic.  He could hear Rowen grinding his teeth.

"Fine," he grated out, eyes flashing angrily at being defeated so easily.  He smiled and decided to add in his own piece in this.  "It has to look real, you know."

Sage flinched but nodded immediately.  "Remind me to kill you later."

Rowen smirked at him for a mere instant, the slightly amused expression on his face betrayed by the tightness around his eyes.  They only regarded each other for a moment before Rowen slammed into him in a full tackle, spilling them both onto the ground in a tangle of arms and legs.  Sage flinched slightly when he felt his throat sting suddenly, trying to relax while giving the impression that he was fighting back, which was not an easy combination in the circumstances.

He hadn't been pinned to the ground for more than a few seconds before he felt hands pulling Rowen off of him forcefully.  He groaned as he was pulled to his feet, head spinning as he tried vainly to figure out up from down, which was exceedingly difficult at that particular moment.  He forced his eyes to clear enough so that he could lash out with at least minimal accuracy, landing a heavy blow in Kento's ribs before taking a swing at Ryo's shoulder.  Both landed awkwardly on the ground as they were knocked away from Rowen, exchanging startled expressions before looking up at him incredulously.

"It's okay," he slurred, swaying slightly.  "Leave him alone.  I'm not hurt."

"Hit head falling, I think," Neris muttered loudly, throwing a meaningful look in his direction.

"You can't stand up for him just because he was your best friend," Ryo murmured, alternately looking at him concernedly and glaring at Rowen.

"Is my best friend, not was," Sage grumped, trying not to grind his teeth.  He looked over at Rowen's frosty expression and tried not to sigh.  He had promised he wasn't going to tell the others, but it looked as though it would be a hard promise to keep.  At least Rowen seemed to have his part down well.

"You're nuts," Sehkmet muttered, moving well back into the shade that Cale was struggling to maintain in the blistering heat.  Ryo sighed and reasserted his control over the heat, looking down the trail uncertainly.

"You fit to walk?"

"I think so, but I'm not sure that Rowen can at the moment."

"Don't tell me that you're worried about him!" Dais cried out in shock.

Sage threw him a look that could have peeled paint, shifting into his centaur form abruptly and walking somewhat unsteadily over to Rowen.  Angry sapphire eyes peered up at him from under a shock of equally blue hair, but no resistance was offered as he hauled his best friend off of the ground and set him on his back.  Rowen shifted forward to lean heavily against him, his face buried in Sage's shoulder as he attempted to shield his eyes from the meager light that made its way past Cale's darkness.  Sage had to struggle not to make a face that betrayed the act they were putting on when he felt the back of his shirt grow damp with his best friend's tears.

_Don't worry, Rowen,_ he said, careful not to let anyone else hear him.  _Everything will work out fine.  Cye's had other premonitions that indicate that we'll be fighting again in the future, so we'll survive somehow._

_I notice that you aren't elaborating on the premonition part.  How bad is it?_

_Bad enough.  Don't worry about what's coming until we have to deal with it._

Sage froze, his mind reeling.  He and Rowen were speaking to one another by telepathy.  That hadn't worked since they had arrived here.

_It still doesn't,_ Rowen thought darkly, interrupting his thoughts.  _It's just that the area we're in is so heavily saturated with magic that some of the simpler things can still be done.  If we weren't right next to each other, this wouldn't work._

_How do you know that?_

Rowen paused for a moment, exhaling loudly.  _I don't know.  I just do._

Sage snapped his head up when he realized that the others were talking to him, calming immediately when Rowen sighed softly and relaxed against him.

"Earth to Sage!  Hey!  Anyone home?" Kento cried out loudly, poking him in the ribs a bit more forcefully than was really necessary.

"Yes?"

"Are you okay?" Kayura murmured softly, the darkness not hiding the worry in her liquid eyes.

"I'm fine," he answered firmly, throwing a glare around the group.  "We need to get moving."

"You need to rest," Ryo growled, latching onto his arm forcefully.

"No way.  Look, I'm going with or without you.  So are you coming or not?"

Sehkmet growled out something that he was glad he didn't hear as he started forward.  He sighed in relief when the others fell in behind him.

*     *     *

Mieren glared at the trails just ahead of the wall of fog that stretched solidly around the mountain, passing over the trail that she wanted to follow.  She growled and leapt through it, the resonance of the spell she had cast so long ago causing her skin to burn painfully.

Breath rushing in through clenched teeth at the burning heat she encountered, she peered at the train in front of her, eyes shining with a dangerous light.  There were tracks on the trail before her, and there were a lot of them.  A group of nearly a dozen, at least.  She ground her teeth and bolted through the inconceivable heat at a backbreaking lope, hissing in pain as her bare feet began to blister and peel from their exposure to the ground.

Looking up to the sky, she swore loudly in her native tongue.  If the sun was burning this fiercely now, she had no desire to be out when the next cycle began.  She had missed the deadly cold of the previous night, but apparently someone had not.  Something heavy had passed through, leaving distinct hoof-prints in the soil even through the layers of ice that must have been there.

She sighed again.  A group was in front of her by at least a half a day's travel and she fully intended to be the first one to reach the fields ahead.  What was even worse was the cycles that she knew were coming.  Things were about to get bad.

*     *     *

Mia hunkered down in the corner of the basement stiffly, eyes wide and watering slightly as she heard the roars coming from above.  She recognized White Blaze's roar, but the answering growls and snarls thoroughly unnerved her.  She whimpered and clutched an old baseball bat closer to her as White Blaze's roar echoed through the house again.  She wondered how much longer the two would be fighting.

*     *     *

Cye darted up to the front of the group as they moved down the trail, resolutely spreading his arms and digging his heels into the stony soil.

"Yes?" Sage drawled, coming to a stop just before running over his friend.

"What's wrong?" Ryo and Kento asked simultaneously, recognizing the look on the youngest Ronin's face.

"Look at the sky," he murmured, spinning to peer past the unnatural shade that Cale was still holding in place around them.

For the first time in hours, the others looked up from the trail.

"It's dark," Dais whispered, his one eye widening.

Cale looked over at him with a haunted look.  "It can't be night yet.  The sun only came up a few hours ago."

Cye shook his head firmly.  "It's not night," he said through a tight throat.  Neris and Siellon immediately nodded in agreement.

_"Mouri of the… um… Cye,"_ Siellon murmured, his soft voice catching everyone's attention.

_"Yes?"_

_"How familiar are you with the spell that was cast here so long ago?"_

_"Not at all."_

_"Earlier you said… never mind.  The cycles of weather here are twisted, much like everything else in this area.  We have been extremely lucky so far not to have encountered any of the animals, but I fear that we cannot avoid the weather."_

Cye blinked and looked to the others uncertainly.  _"It's going to rain.  I know that much.  So what's wrong?"_

Siellon sighed at looked dejectedly towards Neris.  _"You want to explain, light cousin?"_

_"No way.  You started the explanation, so you finish it,"_ Neris muttered, edging towards the back of the group.

The dark elf made a face.  _"Pansy.  Well… uh… Cye, the thing is…"_

_"Yes?"_ he prompted, growing irritated.

_"You know how hot and cold it got just last night and today…"_

Paling slightly, Cye had a sinking feeling he understood what he was about to hear.  _"Out with it."_

_"Unless you're just damn talented in controlling the waters, we're all going to drown.  It's that simple."_

Growling darkly to himself, Cye relayed the message to his friends.

"It's going to rain," he said simply.

"And?" Kento prompted, not liking the look in Cye's sea blue eyes.

"And we're about to go swimming."

Everyone in the group, except for the elves and Rowen, exchanged horrified expressions.

"Tidal wave?" Ryo asked sweetly.  Cye only nodded darkly.  They were cut off from saying anything further when a steady, and moderately heavy, rain began, drenching them all within a few seconds.

"This isn't too bad," Kento said slowly, peering around uncertainly.

"Will be," Neris assured him in a dull voice.

As though responding to the elf's comment, the rain began in a true downpour, effectively cutting off any communication or sight further than a half a foot away in front of their faces.  A flash of turquoise flames shot through the rains, the swirling waters forming into a simple dome around the group.

"Cute trick," Sehkmet murmured, poking one of the walls of water experimentally with a thoughtful expression on his face.  "How long can you keep it up?"

"Long enough.  This can't last forever."

The Warlords and Ronins looked out of the enormous bubble they were in skeptically, several sets of eyes rolling when it became clear that the water had already passed the height of the dome Cye had constructed.  Cye glared at the rising waters viciously, growling something under his breath that caused Sehkmet to snicker evilly.

"I'm going scouting," Cye announced, not wanting to put up with the stupidity of the Warlords.  He chose to ignore the odd looks he received, walking over to the edge of the dome unconcernedly.  He was about to walk through when Sage spoke up.

"This thing won't collapse if you leave, will it?"

Cye shook his head forcefully.  "I wouldn't leave if I thought there was any chance of it collapsing.  You know that."  He didn't wait for the next complaint before shucking off his clothes and weapons, slipping into the water in the nude contentedly.  He felt more at home in the swirling waters than he had since coming to this dimension to look for Mieren.  He heard Dais muttering something about no sense of modesty as he swam away, the sound within the enormous dome echoing to his sharp ears clearly.  He grinned and fought down a blush as he realized that he hadn't even given a second thought to Kayura's presence before stripping.

Moving towards the surface for air, he noticed a shadow moving along the surface of the water, the dark sinuous form moving at terrifying speeds.  He waited for it to pass patiently, swallowing nervously when it circled back and hovered directly above him.  He shrank back in the water slowly, trying not to draw attention to himself with any frantic movements.  Lungs beginning to burn, he slid swiftly through the water to a clear area, fully intent of surfacing to gain a breath of fresh air.  He nearly cursed aloud when the shadow mimicked his movements from above.

Looking around frantically, he decided to do the only thing he could in the current situation.  Return to camp.  Screwing up his face in defeat, he took a hesitant stroke in the murky water, freezing when the shadow above continued to follow him.  He couldn't go back to where the others were without leading that thing to them.

Cursing mentally at whatever was following him, Cye spun expertly in the water to head in the opposite direction from his friends, peering around desperately.  Even with his extraordinary ability to hold his breath, he needed to breathe eventually.  He only had a few more minutes at the very best.

The black shape above plunged into the murky waters, heading unerringly in his direction at a ludicrous speed, pumping all six of its webbed feet frantically.  Cye blanched and lurched strangely as he fought to move out of the way of the barbed tail lashing in his direction.  It was almost like it was fishing, Cye thought disgustedly.  Arching his back, he slipped out of its reach gracefully, not seeing the huge wedge shaped maw swinging around on the sinuous neck.  A wicked spike on the top of its head grazed his chest, tearing a ragged trench in his pale flesh.  Startled, Cye gasped.

Cye's mind raged at him for the pure stupidity of filling his lungs with water for the split second it took him to realize that the water wasn't burning like it should.  He experimentally exhaled and drew another deep breath, blinking in shock as his oxygen starved lungs accepted the water happily and demanded more.  He was so enthralled by the idea of being able to breathe underwater that he momentarily forgot about the shadowed entity chasing him.  He was quickly reminded as the barbed tail whipped out, scoring a vicious slash across his shoulder.

Ignoring the burning pain, he spun in the water and headed deeper, lashing out with a tendril of water to knock the triangular maw away from him as he escaped.  He spun around in the water, grinning wildly as he effortlessly descended backwards through the murky depths.  The threat dealt with, he headed back to the others where he had left them, not noticing how swiftly he slid through the water with such minimal movements.

Coming up above the dome, he ordered the water to gently lower him to the muddy ground below, smiling to himself as a tendril wrapped around his wrist and placed him gently on the sopped earth.  He remained sitting where he had been placed, too tired from swimming so frantically to get up at the moment.

"Well," he started, choking violently on the word.  He made a face and spit out the water in his lungs before trying again.  Clearing his throat roughly and making a face at the strange feeling that the air left in his throat and lungs, he began again.  "Well, the water is pretty high, so I don't think we're going anywhere for awhile.  Also, I think we should watch for some of the things moving around out there.  They're big, ugly, and all around not happy to see us."

"What happened?" Ryo breathed, dropping to the ground beside where Kento had already collapsed.

Cye made a face.  "Some ugly thing with six legs, sharp teeth, and a barbed tail tried to kill me.  In trying to get as far away from it as I could as fast as I could, I accidentally discovered that I can breathe underwater.  You don't need to worry, I wasn't drowning," he smirked.

Sage shook his head.  "That's not what he meant."

Cye only blinked up at him for a moment before trying to stand so he wouldn't have to crane his neck so horribly to talk to his friend.  He only ended up lurching strangely to the side.  He looked down at his legs in shock.

Slick pale turquoise scales covered him from the waist down in what could only be called a tail.  Eyes bulging, he reached out towards the fish-like tail with one hand, freezing when he saw the delicate webbing between his fingers, pale silvery turquoise scales running halfway up his forearms.  From shifting slightly, he noticed a strange weight on his back.  Probably a fin of some sort, he thought, struggling not to grimace.  Judging from the way it seemed to move, he decided that it was collapsible.  A merman?  Mer-elf in his case, he corrected himself irately, eyes narrowing.

"You didn't notice?" Sehkmet's voice snapped him out of his contemplation.

"You think?" he snarled, running his fingers over his throat curiously when he noticed the strange sound to his voice.  His searching hands quickly located the gills hidden just under his jaw.  "Interesting," he murmured.

"Interesting!" Dais cried out in frustration, his eye flashing crimson for a moment.  "How can you be taking this so calmly?"

Cye screwed up his face in consideration before looking up again.  "No one did anything to me.  Whatever happened, I did it, so I must be able to undo it."

"You did it?" Kento asked incredulously.  "How?"

"I have no idea.  But I'm assuming I did it at the same time I started breathing underwater."  Cye paused and fingered the gills on his throat again, fascination painting his delicate features.  "As soon as I figure out how I did this without the help of magic, we might be able to use it to our advantage."

_"Cye?"_

_"Yes, Neris?"_

_"How in the hell did you do that?"_

_"That's what I'm trying to figure out at the moment.  I have no idea."_

Siellon cleared his throat softly.  _"There are only a few ways that could happen.  The first is that someone did it to you."_

_"Nope.  Whatever happened, I did it."_

_"The only other options are that you cast a spell on yourself or that this is an innate ability.  Since the lighter magics aren't working and the darker would mess you up, I can only assume that it's an ability you were born with,"_ the dark elf mumbled thoughtfully, his eyes glowing with a rapt light.

"Innate ability," Cye called to the others happily, smirking at their startled expressions.  He noted wryly that even Rowen seemed shocked.

"Elves can't do that," Sage protested.

"Like you would know."  Cye let out a deep breath and shrugged.  "It's the only possible explanation.  If my ancestor was a sorcerer, he may have done something to himself."

Neris shook his head.  _"I know the histories.  Mouri would never have done that."_

_"It's the only possible explanation."_

_"There might be more to your ancestry than you know."_

_"I doubt that."_

"Hey Cye," Sehkmet called out happily, plunking down beside him.  "When you figure this out, you're going to show us, right?"

"Why wait?" Dais asked slyly, a malicious grin forming on his face.  Neris twitched and called out something to Siellon, who growled something under his breath.

Sehkmet and Dais locked eyes for a moment, before turning in unison to pin the two elves.

"We want to be like our friends again," Dais hissed out, pushing Neris more firmly into the mud with his six heavily muscled arms.  Siellon squawked and squirmed in Sehkmet's taloned grip, letting out something akin to a shriek when the former Warlord acted like he was preparing to spit on him.  He cried out frantically to Neris, who nodded quickly.

"Yes, yes.  Like friends," he wailed, shifting away from Dais's angry scowl.

Glancing at one another, the two Warlords shrugged and stood up leisurely, congratulating themselves and the two elves mumbled softly among themselves with chastised expressions.

Cye curled up into a ball the best he was able in his current form, gasping for breath.  Sage flopped down in the mud beside him and placed a hand worriedly on his shoulder, seriously considering throwing him into the water.  Cye looked up at him with tears forming in his eyes.

"You might want to protect Kayura," he managed to choke out in a strangled whisper, face reddening as he went into another fit of giggles.  Kayura's shriek caught everyone's attention, causing heads to swivel wildly.  Cye choked on another fit of laughter.  "Too late," he gasped.

Sage looked up in a state of shock, the first thing to greet his eyes was something that looked remarkably like a dark blue man-sized bat, sprawled catatonically in the mud.  A mop of navy blue hair trailed down from a quivering head sporting massive pointed ears, a thick line of fur running down the backbone and ending in a bushy wolf-like tail.  Thick leathery wings hung limply in the mud, the membrane connecting it to the back running from shoulder blades to hips.  Taloned hands and feet were painfully clear from where pale skin contrasted with the dark sludge that passed for the ground.

Tearing his gaze from what he thought was Cale, he looked up at Kayura, clamping his lower lip in his teeth when he saw the deep black side of a centaur.  He struggled vainly not to smile at the mortified expression on Kayura's face as she looked herself over numbly.  He decided to show some pity and walked over to see if he could calm her down a little before she killed the two offending elves.

Kayura let out a furious shriek and launched herself at Dais, who blanched and leapt frantically out of her way.

"That'll teach you to phrase your demands better," Sehkmet chortled, his laughter cut short as Cale tackled him with a murderous look in his eyes.

Cye continued to snicker when Sage moved over to pry Kayura off of Dais, noting that everyone else was either engaged in laughing or rolling their eyes.  He was careful not to change his expression when his gaze moved across Rowen, the older boy grinning slightly in amusement.  Following his gaze, he could see why.

Cale and Sehkmet were pounding one another into the mud.  Sehkmet had the advantage of armor-like scales covering him, but they weren't helping him much at the moment, Cale being far quicker than him.  Talons met scales in a soft clicking as Cale launched another attack, growing increasingly furious when Sehkmet only laughed harder, both of their faces turning purple, though for quite different reasons.

The battle itself was quite humorous.  No matter how hard they tried to avoid it, every few seconds, both of them became firmly entangled in Cale's wings, phrases that could only be described at interesting ringing through the air.  If their battle wasn't bad enough, Kayura and Dais continued with their own.

Kayura had the white-haired idiot in the mud under her hooves, lashing out viciously as she tried to pulverize him.  Dais was too busy laughing and making crude comments about her and Sage to fight properly.  As things stood at the moment, he was barely keeping the furious woman from crushing him, having to employ all of his strength to hold her just above him.  Sage wasn't helping matters much, trying to calm Kayura down while occasionally delivering a kick to the Warlord's ribs when he thought that she wasn't looking.

Cye tore his gaze from the battles and looked to the others again.  Ryo and Kento were too busy laughing to do anything to stop the carnage, and the two elves were trying their best to remain unnoticed as the others pounded each other.  Rowen was watching everything with a shadow of a grin on his face.  The tightness around his eyes led Cye to believe that he was struggling not to laugh aloud.

"Hey, Rowen," he called out softly, trying not to let anyone else hear him.  "Could you help me with something real quick?"

Rowen gave the others one last strange look before shaking his head in resignation and wandering over in Cye's direction almost absentmindedly.  He plunked down in the mud with a curious expression on his face.

"What did you do anyway?" he smirked.

Cye smiled slowly.  "I knew it.  You're not messed up at all.  So what's with the deception anyway?"

Rowen jerked in shock, eyes widening.  He cursed under his breath and quickly adopted a scowl.  Cye snorted loudly.

"Too late for that.  Just give in and tell me.  I won't tell the others," he murmured, eyes shining.  "You have a good reason or you wouldn't be trying this.  What is it?"

Rowen sighed softly.  "Remind me to kill them later for distracting me," he grumped, glaring at the Warlords and Sage.  "Look, I only know what I heard you say and I recognize a premonition when I hear one."

"What I said?" Cye asked incredulously.  Rowen shrugged.

"I can't repeat it.  You go all weird when you start doing that and don't remember anything afterwards."

Cye's expression turned thoughtful.  "Can you at least tell me vaguely what it was, or would that set me off too?"

"There's a blackish crystal ahead that you said is alive.  There was something about me hurting you guys before destroying it in the night."

"Okay," Cye drawled, brows furrowing thoughtfully.  "I can see why you'd want to run us off, trying not to hurt us and all, but what is foreordained will take place.  No man can stand aloof from his place in the destinies of the worlds.  As the ancient gods have decreed, so shall it come to pass."

Trying not to twitch at the slightly glazed look that had slowly entered Cye's eyes while he spoke, Rowen nodded carefully, still eyeing the Warlords as they pounded on one another.  "Cye?"

"Yes?"

"You did just what I said you would, and I didn't even start it this time."

Cye sighed and scrubbed one webbed hand through his sopped hair.  "Great.  Just what I needed.  I wonder though, why do I know these things?"

"Don't know," Rowen murmured, eyeing Cye carefully.  "You going to figure out what to about that or what?  When it stops raining, you're going to have to walk or ride on Sage's back."

"Or Kayura's," Cye smirked, smiling wider when Rowen's lips twisted upwards in the semblance of a grin.

"I think that Sage is going to be busy riding Kayura," Rowen said softly, straining not to laugh aloud.

"Which means that I'm going to have to walk.  I can't trust Kento or Sehkmet not to try to eat me."

"You could just flop down the trail like a dying fish."

"I think not.  You wanna carry me?"

"And smell like fish?  No way."

Cye threw him a mock glare before giving in and grinning.  "You better leave before the others notice you're talking to me.  I'll figure this out, I hope."  Rowen nodded and squeezed his shoulder gently before hopping to his feet and moving to a secluded spot in the enormous dome.

Cye made a face at his retreating form, wondering exactly what all he had said in the past.  The others seemed to think he spouted premonitions all the time but he couldn't remember anything of the sort.  He began gnawing his lower lip as he wondered how much he had said.  There also had to be some logical reason why he knew all of these things.  Perhaps something in his past set this all off.  _I don't want them to know,_ he thought warily, freezing in shock when he realized what he had just been thinking.  He desperately tried to call back the logic behind the simple statement, to remember what it was that he was trying to hide.  His mind didn't oblige in the slightest, leaving him more baffled than ever.

Unable to solve that particular problem, he turned to another.  He looked down to his legs curiously, wondering idly how he was going to undo whatever he had done.  He sighed.  It didn't really matter how long it took him.  They weren't really in a hurry to start moving at the moment anyway.

Despite his best efforts to concentrate on changing back, his mind continued to wander to the statement he had thought, had understood, so briefly.  Whatever it was that he didn't want his friends to know had to have something to do with his past, but he couldn't place what.

Cye jerked in shock when the scales covering his longish fish-like tail shifted to an incredible sapphire, silver hints flashing in the meager light that passed through the water above to reach them.  He looked at his hands numbly, wondering why the scales running along his hands and forearms were now the purest silver.  His hair fell in front of his face as he lowered his head slightly to get a closer look at himself.  He froze instantly, face paling.  His hair was the purest obsidian, shining a strange sapphire as it reflected the meager light in the dome.  He made a face and cursed softly.

"Dude," Kento muttered, plopping down beside him.  "That ain't right."

"Oh shut up," Cye cried out, concentrating on removing the webbing between his fingers.  The webbing vanished obediently, but the scales did not.  He wiggled his fingers experimentally before raising one for Kento's benefit, smiling innocently.  Kento snorted.

"No thanks, honey.  Not in the mood," Kento hooted.

"Just because he looks like a girl doesn't mean… AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!  That hurts, you know!" Dais wailed as he darted by, Kayura trailing mere inches behind him, swords held ready.  Dais clapped one of his right arms over the left one she had just hit, ducking behind Cye for cover.

"Hey!  Leave me out of this!" Cye yelped, lurching in Kento's direction frantically for protection.  Kento grinned at him as he helped yank his friend out of disaster's path just before Kayura and Sage flattened him into the mud.  The older boy froze and looked at him strangely, eyes wide and mouth twisting into an odd smirk.

"That don't look right," he murmured, eyes dancing.  Cye only looked at him for a moment before diverting his gaze to his legs, rolling his eyes at the sight.  He had legs again at the moment, but, like his hands, they were still covered in scales.  It also looked strangely like he was wearing flippers.  The weight of the fin on his back appeared to have vanished as well.

"Getting closer," he muttered ruefully, rolling his eyes at Sage as he followed Kayura's retreating form to the other side of the dome, both of the idiots intent on pulverizing Dais, which Cye didn't overly object to at the moment.  Dais was a moron.  Who but he could have phrased his demand in such a way as to leave the elves, imaginative as they were, free reign to do what they wanted?  A sudden thought came to mind and he made a mental note to ask the white-haired Warlord later if he used that phrasing on purpose.  If he survived Kayura's wrath, anyway.

"What's with your hair?" Ryo asked, edging closer to them as he tried to avoid Cale and Sehkmet as they rolled by.  Cye fingered his onyx locks and frowned.

"Not a clue."

"Then I suppose you wouldn't know about your eyes either," Kento murmured sarcastically, struggling not to grin as Dais made another lap around the dome, Sage and Kayura closing in quickly.

"What color are they?" Cye muttered in a tone that was almost curious.

"One green and one blue," Ryo said slowly.

"Really?" Cye drawled.  "Well, at least they match absolutely nothing.  As a guy, I'm supposed to be colorblind anyway."

"You have an interesting way of looking at things," Kento snickered, lips compressing when Neris and Siellon darted by him in full sprints, almost within Cale's reach, much to their horror.  Curious, he glanced around, hooting evilly when he saw Sehkmet sprawled across the drowned grass on the far side of the dome, twitching erratically and moaning obscenities under his breath.

_"Cye!"_ Neris wailed frantically, ducking behind him as Cale chased Siellon past, the dark elf screaming obscenities so vulgar that Cye was unable to translate them into Japanese.

_"Yes?"_

_"Save me!"_ he whimpered softly, flinching when Cale finally caught the dark elf, the two of them going down in a tangle of arms, legs, and wings.

_"Why should I?  You brought this on yourself.  Those two didn't do anything to you, so you shouldn't have bothered them."_

_"Dais asked me to!"_ he cried out, scrubbing his pale blue hair out of his eyes irately and glaring at the white-haired Warlord from where he was currently warding off Kayura's blades with six separate daggers clutched in his fists.  Cye chuckled softly.

_"I figured as much,"_ he chortled, eyes shining with his unimpaired mirth.  _"Very well, I'll stop the others, but you have to explain a few things when I do.  Agreed?"_

Neris nodded quickly, eyes wide as a bloody dark elf darted by yet again, Cale having lost his grip for an instant.

"Sage!  Kayura!  Cale!"

At the sound of their names, the three aggressors paused to look over to Cye curiously.  Making a face, he waved them over.

"Knock it off.  That kind of stupidity isn't going to solve anything."

Sage made a considering face and turned to Kayura curiously, obviously waiting for her reaction before saying anything.  Kento looked as though he were going to make some crude comment, but remained silent when Ryo shook his head sharply.

_"Now, Neris.  What do you know of the cycles here?"_

The light elf froze, paling instantly.  _"Not much,"_ he admitted softly.  _"Just something about the frozen fields and burning sands."_

Siellon plopped down in the mud beside them, wiping the blood from his mouth stiffly.  He cleared his throat softly.  _"The entirety of the poem is this, light cousin._

_Blinding fires of spells long since cast,_

_Represent the horrors of the past._

_Passing the concealing fog now yields_

_Deadly cycles and frozen fields._

_The night shall pass to burning sands,_

_And quenching rains will cool the lands._

_Restored to health, new life shall rise,_

_Followed by a swift demise."_

As Siellon finished, Cye nodded slowly and translated for the others.

"Two more cycles before we start over, huh?" Ryo murmured, glancing curiously at the shimmering dome of water around them.

"New life," Kento murmured thoughtfully, studying the ground.

Cye swallowed roughly.  _"Siellon, didn't you say we were lucky not to have encountered any of the animals?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Why is that lucky?"_

_"I'm not too sure about all of the details, but some of the others in the Dark Waters Sept say that the animals here are unusually intelligent and aggressive.  There was also something about them being on the largish side."_

Nodding slowly, Cye turned to answer his friends' curious stares.  "The animals here are big, mean, and smart," he summed up.

"How bad can that possibly get?" Ryo muttered, eyeing the dome of water again nervously.

"Forget the animals," Sage cried out.  "I don't like the swift demise part."

Silence followed his statement as the water outside the dome began to lower at a rapid pace, vanishing into the ground to leave muddy fields stretching as far as they could see.  Shocked, Cye allowed the dome of water to vanish.  A single wolf's howl in the distance shattered the unnatural silence.

"I think we should start moving," Cale breathed, answering nods circulating around the group.

To Be Continued…

Those who live in glass houses should not participate in nude yoga…


	10. Part 10

Obsidian Fire

Part 10

By Mieren

Mieren descended abruptly, rotating her wings wearily as she plunked down roughly into the thick mud below.  She growled to herself irately.  She had no idea that the area would be devastated like this when she had cast the Exodus spell so long ago.  She idly wondered what the Dynasty would be like in a thousand years with similar energies still soaking the area.  Shrugging, she peered around at the surrounding areas, grumbling to herself.  In the downpour she had lost ground as she tried to stay away from the waters.  Spitting out a curse she was sure would give Sehkmet a heart attack, she started forward on the slimy trail to follow where she was sure the other group would be if they survived.  She quickened her pace when a howl rang through the still air.

*     *     *

Ryo looked around the group as they ran lightly down the never-ending trails through the trees, gradually gaining altitude as they wove through the gradually ascending paths.  Cale had avoided speaking to them for the first hour, grumbling under his breath continuously.  After some time, he had fallen in beside Ryo, occasionally glancing over at him as though he wanted to ask something but didn't know how to phrase it.  For the most part, he only studied his wings and the dark bluish fur covering him in strange strips and swirling patterns with a disgusted expression. Ryo did his best not to laugh aloud at the mortification painting the older man's face.

Kento still had to mostly support Cye, the youngest Ronin still having problems controlling his legs despite his best efforts to change back.  Neris and Siellon hovered by them, never getting more than a few feet from the two.  Surprisingly, Rowen trailed the small cluster too, occasionally looking up from his careful study of the trails.

Dais and Sehkmet were walking by themselves, chatting softly as they ran.  A mock fight would break out occasionally between the two as they tested their own strengths and each other's weaknesses.  They never separated until one cried out for mercy, which rarely happened, or until someone broke up the small war.

Kayura had retreated to the rear of the group, sulking angrily and occasionally throwing something at the two elves or Dais.  Sage was walking beside her in his centaur form, still trying to show her how to change back.  He had tried pacing her normally for awhile, but she had quickly grown irritated and chased him off, only grudgingly accepting his presence when he was in the same form as she was.  So far, she had only learned a variety of new phrases, some of which had Sehkmet and Dais howling with laughter and rolling on the ground.

A blood-chilling howl rang through the trees, answering cries answering from every direction.  Without hesitating, Ryo leapt into the trees, reaching his wolf-like form before he had even completed spinning on the balls of his feet to leave.  Kento immediately followed suit, unloading Cye into the arms of the elves before vanishing into the woods.

Another wolf cry echoed through the cool air, much closer this time.  Siellon and Neris began looking around nervously, unloading Cye on Rowen when the older boy held out his arms amiably.  Cye growled something under his breath and peered around, frantically trying to get his legs to work and failing miserably.  He sighed loudly and motioned for Rowen to put him on the ground.

Something passed by just in the shadows, the sleek form undistinguishable in the darkness even to the sharp eyes staring directly at it.

"What the hell was that?" Sehkmet demanded, holding his twin swords fiercely and standing back to back with Dais, who was clutching six eighteen-inch blades.

"We need a better position," Sage called out softly, eyes shifting to an incredible gold as he peered around uncertainly.  Without thinking, he snagged Cye and Rowen in his arms and led the group to a wider section of trail just ahead, setting his passengers down and ringing the Warlords around them quickly.  The next howl to ring out was immediately followed by an earth-shaking roar.  Sage positioned himself between whatever was coming and the group clustered on the trail.

"Stay in a ring so they can't get behind you," he called to the others, hefting his no-dachi meaningfully.

"What about you?" Kayura asked slowly.

"I'm fine.  Don't worry about me, just watch whatever's coming."

Kayura made a face but nodded reluctantly.  Sehkmet smiled in her direction, vastly amused, handing off his backpack to Cye, who immediately began rooting around for the poisonous bombs the green-haired idiot had made.  He handed a few to Rowen when the others weren't looking.

The area around them began to darken suddenly even to their heat sensitive eyes, causing Cale to scowl and spit out a curse that was far from appropriate even in the current circumstances.  The false shadows began to vanish as he screwed up his face in concentration, dispelling the work of another master of darkness.  After one last fluctuation in the light, whoever was battling with Cale gave up, light returning in full force as Sage began to work with the starlight.

"Thanks," Dais murmured, raising his head slightly.

Sage didn't respond.  He only peered around warily, eyes tight with strain and worry when he didn't see Kento or Ryo.

"Whatever's out there is big," he hissed, taking a step back hesitantly.  "Ryo and Kento need to be here.  So do the elves."

"Here," Neris called softly, waving one hand from the concealing branches of a nearby tree.  An ebony hand appeared a few trees away.  Sage scowled darkly.

"That leaves two missing."

"Wolf-friend above," Neris supplied quietly, pointing to the dark silhouette soaring in the night skies.  The only thing that Sage could make out was the basic shape of whatever was up there by watching the stars wink in and out of existence.

"I'll follow Ryo," Cale said firmly, eyeing his wings uncertainly and glaring in the direction he had last seen the dark elf waving from.

"You'll stay here," Sage snapped, eyes flashing furiously.  "If they tinker with the light again, you'll have to do something about it."  Cale made a face but nodded reluctantly, reclaiming his place beside Kayura.

"That leaves Kento," Sehkmet grumbled, squinting into the darkness of the early night with his greenish yellow eyes.  An explosion sounded in the distance.  Several howls and a large feline's roar were followed by maniacal laughter coming from the direction of the blast.

"Location confirmed," Dais called out sarcastically, grinning unconcernedly.

"Incoming!" Ryo snapped, folding his wings suddenly to land beside Sage.  He didn't hesitate before unsheathing the twin katanas strapped on his back between his huge leathery wings.

No one had time to ask what he meant before a single wolf stepped casually out of the trees, deep yellow eyes shining brightly in the starlight.  Sage gasped and stepped back, craning his head slightly to get a better look at the huge canine whose shoulder was well above his reach.  He leveled his no-dachi uncertainly.

_Interlopers in the Mountains of Omnipotence,_ the thought rang through the heads of the gathered Ronins and Warlords._  And one of them a master of darkness._  The huge maw opened, lips curling back in the eerie semblance of a malicious grin, bloody foam flecking the enormous muzzle.

A second wolf walked in to stand beside the original female, blood running heavily from his muzzle down his neck and front legs.  The female turned to him slowly.

_Did you kill the other one?_

_Yes.  The great cat is no more._

Unseen by the others, Cye pushed himself to his feet, muscles rippling through his legs and back as he pushed past the stunned Warlords to approach the wolves.

_"Where is he?"_ he snapped, eyes flashing from ruby to a darker crimson.

_I know not where the souls of the deceased pass to,_ the pale gray female snarled.  The darker brown male shifted to stand beside her, licking the blood from his teeth almost contemptuously.

_May I have this one?_

An unseen signal passed between them, causing the brown male to charge.  Cye stood his ground, holding up his hand to keep the others from getting in his way.  The look in his eyes made Ryo's blood run cold and he immediately leapt back, pulling the others with him before the wolf had finished his first stride.

Cye waited until the last instant before lobbing something in an underhanded throw that splattered on the forehead of the charging male.  He threw his hands up in front of him calmly, almost insolently, and formed a thin dome of water from the moisture in the air.  The massive wolf crashed into it with a pained howl, scrubbing his head against the ground as heavy black smoke began rising from his thick fur.  He only struggled for a moment before going limp on the ground.  The gray female only watched.

_Impressive boy, to be able to kill a cub,_ she sneered, looking to the comparatively small corpse on the ground a few strides from her.  As she finished the last word, she leapt forward furiously.

Cye lobbed a few of the small venomous bombs at her, blanching when the venom beaded and slid out of her fur, doing no damage.  His dome of water melted before his disbelieving eyes.  He bunched his legs up beneath him, leaping into the air just before the wicked teeth in a jaw bigger than he was reached him.  He surprised even himself when he more than cleared the charging wolf, rising more than forty feet into the air and clearing the tops of some of the smaller trees.

Realizing that he was about to become a chew-toy when his ascent slowed, he arched his back and reached out wildly, grappling for something, anything, to cling to.  Several arrows sunk into the thick fur of the monstrous wolf below him, one even drawing blood.  Sage suddenly became air-born, flying past him in his early descent when the female wolf swatted him out of her way for coming near her with a sword.

Ryo could only watch in horror from where he laid sprawled crippled on the ground as Sage was roughly thrown through the air in the follow-through to the swing that had hit him.  A single swat from a heavily muscled leg almost as big around as he was sent them both flying, but he had landed against a tree after crashing through the Warlords instead of being thrown upwards.  The wolf raised her head leisurely, lips curling back from her teeth in anticipation as Cye neared her, arms flailing and crimson eyes wide.  He cried out pitifully as the monstrous jaws snapped him out of the air, horrifying crunching noises echoing through the tiny clearing.

The massive female cried out sharply and lurched back frantically as an arrow plunged into one golden eye.  A mass of bloody meat fell from her teeth as she clawed at her face with one monstrous paw.

Dropping the bow he had appropriated from the startled dark elf, Rowen strode forward angrily, not even looking at Cye's mangled form as he passed.  Sage fell in directly behind him, sprinting brokenly on three legs, the fourth hanging limply at an appalling angle.  He dropped to the ground beside what was left of his friend.

Cye lurched to his feet before Sage even had a chance to check him, spitting out a mouthful of blood and falling in beside Rowen.

Forgetting about the pain stinging in her left eye, the wolf bitch took a swing at Rowen, who casually threw up one arm to block the swing.  The paw bounced off his arm harmlessly, and continued in Cye's direction.  Cye stood perfectly still as the paw crashed into him, stopping abruptly in its path as it contacted him.

_"Neris.  Siellon,"_ Cye snapped, not looking away from his opponent.  _"Take the master of venom with you.  Find and heal the earth master."_

The two elves nodded and vanished into the night.  Rowen only looked at him strangely for a moment before turning to regard the wolf once more.

_Little boys,_ she sneered.  _You invite death by nearing me._

_"Then why do you quiver in pain?"_

_Such things you say elf, considering that you must be dying._

_"My friend is stronger than you think,"_ Rowen hissed.  _"Stronger than myself, I believe.  And you know what I am."_

_Yes, dark one.  I know your kind._

Cye's eyes rippled from a brilliant ruby to a swirling teal, glowing softly in the night as he regarded the wolf furiously.  He started forward slowly, the blue fires residing in his eyes flaring brighter, whites and pupils vanishing in the swirling depths.  Rowen only looked at him for a moment before retreating to the others, tossing Sage across his shoulders as he passed, which was a rather awkward stunt considering what form the blond was in at the moment.

Ryo watched with disbelieving eyes as the blood covering Cye dried and flaked off, falling to the ground as he strode forward purposely.  The blue fires in the boy's eyes flared brighter, bathing the surrounding area in a soft teal light.  The female growled at him threateningly, but took a step back all the same, her remaining golden eye growing wide.  A heavy spike appeared on the side of each of Cye's forearms, extending slowly until it looked as though he held a longish spear in each hand.  Lips peeling away from wicked fangs, Cye leapt forward, planting the twin spikes deep in the massive chest of the gray wolf.  She shuddered and went limp, pulling free of the spikes impaling her as she slid bonelessly to the ground.  Cye only looked at her blankly before moving back to the others.

"How did you do that?" Sage demanded, pulling Cye free of the ground as he approached.  Cye blinked at him with his strangely luminescent eyes before freeing himself easily from his friend's iron grip and looking to the others.

"I figured out the shapeshifting thing," he said slowly, willing the blue light in his eyes to die.  He had already rid himself of his fangs and the spikes on his arms.  Lips twisting thoughtfully, he casually regained the height and muscle mass he had lost when his ancestor accidentally turned him into an elf.  He fixed his ears almost as an afterthought.

"That is NOT fair," Kayura grumped, looking herself over again.

"You'll figure it out soon," Sage murmured, limping over towards her.  A pale green glow surrounded his hands as he healed her bruises and moved on to the next person.  Cye watched him curiously for a moment before smirking and placing one hand on the hind leg that Sage was still dragging.  Sage flinched but didn't say anything or try to move away.

Silvery turquoise flames licked Cye's hands gently as he worked.  After a few seconds, Sage's leg straightened abruptly with a pop, the torn muscles restructuring before his disbelieving eyes.  He looked to the younger boy with an incredulous expression painting his face.

"When did you learn to do that?"

"Just now," Cye murmured, spinning to vanish into the trees before anyone could say a word.

*     *     *

Mieren skidded to a halt in a small clearing, panting raggedly as she peered around wildly with crimson eyes.  Something had protected this area from the flooding rains, the ground decorated with hoof marks being only slightly damp.  Her lips peeled away from her teeth in a furious snarl.  A water master had been here.

_"Damn them!"_ she shrieked, eyes blazing.  _"I told them they were not to come!"_

Her fury shifted to mortification instantly.  She looked to the skies with eyes burning from unshed tears.  Unbidden, she repeated the last lines of the warning she had left with the world ages ago in a breathless whisper.

_"Restored to health, new life shall rise, followed by a swift demise."_

Howling into the rising winds, Mieren darted forward with a newfound desperation tearing at her soul.  The others should not have come, especially here.  In a way, it infuriated her that they could learn the location of the dark elves' spell sooner than she could.  She screamed out in frustration and fury as she surged forward to find the others, praying to the light that she would not be too late.  She knew what awaited them on the mountaintop.

*     *     *

Mia sighed for the third time in so many minutes, glaring at White Blaze furiously from atop her precarious perch.

Roars had resounded throughout the house for hours before White Blaze had calmly pushed open the door to the basement, indicating that she was to follow him.  She had nearly had a seizure when a leopard had butted up against her legs demandingly, looking up at her with shimmering golden brown eyes.

It had taken some time to calm her down enough to realize that the enormous spotted feline wasn't going to hurt her, and even longer to convince her to get on its broad shoulders.  She glared at the spotted hide beneath her and swore under her breath.  The thing was as large as White Blaze.

Shifting uncomfortably from atop the leopard, jaguar, or whatever the thing was, she squinted ahead into the darkness and resumed grumbling.  She had been riding the great cat for hours and they were still moving further into the woods.

The leopard came to a halt suddenly.  Mia would have been unseated had she not had a death-grip on the enormous animal beneath her.  As it was, she slid along its back unsteadily, her final seat falling between the well-muscled shoulder blades of the feline.

The great leopard growled softly and looked at Mia with luminescent amber eyes, lowering itself slightly so that its passenger could get off a little easier.  Stretching stiffly, Mia peered around in the blackness, sighing noisily when a gentle mouth closed around her wrist and tugged her forward gently.  She gasped and dropped to her knees when the leopard released her and nudged a mass of bloody rags that glimmered weakly in the moonlight.

Reaching out hesitantly, afraid of what she would find, Mia twitched aside the edges of the blood-caked rags and peeked at the messy contents within.  Her breath froze in her throat when she saw the bloodstained mass in the center of the heap, distinctive sapphire hair shining in the dim light.  She placed her trembling hands on the cool flesh, gasping and jerking back when pale silvery blue eyes opened tiredly to peer back at her.

"My God," Mia whispered, pulling the infant to her chest when he cooed insistently, holding up his arms towards her.  She didn't hesitate before climbing onto White Blaze with then baby snuggling up to her lovingly.  The white tiger beneath her obediently started back towards her mansion in a smooth gallop, something akin to a smile appearing on his face as he ran.

*     *     *

Ryo staggered to a halt with wide eyes, not even flinching when Cale ran into him from behind.  The others filtered into the small thicket, similarly freezing at the sight before them.

Enormous paw prints circled the area where a battle had obviously taken place, blood splattering the grass and trees heavily, unidentifiable pieces of flesh littering the ground.  In the center of the carnage was the still form, or most of it, of a massive cat drenched in its own blood.

"Kento," Ryo choked out, eyes misting as he staggered forward.

"Gruesome, I know," a soft voice whispered at his shoulder.  Ryo turned numbly to see Sehkmet and the two elves looking at the area with pale faces and tight features.  He was shocked to see Cye regarding the carnage disgustedly before stalking off further into the trees.  He stopped just before he passed out of their view.

"Kento!" he shrieked, cocking his head as he listened to the echoes carefully.

Sage flinched and moved forward, knowing what it was like to lose a best friend, the pain and the helplessness that inevitably followed.  He reached out to place one hand on the younger boy's shoulder, thinking he had completely snapped from the loss of his first and best friend.

"Cye," he began raggedly, pausing when Cye gave him a look that could have cut through steel before turning to peer into the trees once more.  Cye grinned suddenly and started through the trees in a swift run that the others were hard pressed to keep up with.  Sehkmet began cursing steadily under his breath when he was hit in the face with a branch, glaring around in the darkness angrily for any other obstacles.

Cye swung into one of the larger trees, vanishing completely in the thick branches.  Ryo sighed and prepared to jump into the tree when Cye dropped out of the upper branches with a shadowed form across his shoulders.  Grinning delightedly, he deposited the bloody mass at Sage's feet.

"We'll have to work together on this one," he murmured, eyes flashing from ruby to turquoise as he looked up at Sage expectantly.  Sage and the others could only gape.  Breaking free of his shock, he dropped down beside the younger boy and healed the mass of lacerations and broken bones as quickly as he was able.

Ryo dropped to the ground numbly when Cye moved back.  The younger boy threw a furious glare at Sehkmet and the two elves.

"I told you to find Kento!  You couldn't even do that?" he hissed, looking back towards the quivering form on the ground just in front of Sage.

"I thought that that mess back there…" Sehkmet stammered.

Cye made a face.  "The mess back there was a lioness.  Are you blind?"

"How did you know he was here?" Kayura asked incredulously.

"I called his name and waited for him to respond."

"You could hear him?" Dais wailed, his one eye bulging.  Cye shrugged.

Golden eyes turned to them weakly.  "I don't go down that easily," Kento murmured, slumping back to the ground wearily.  He grinned ruefully.  "You'd probably like to know what happened.  Yes?"

"Yes!" Ryo snapped, jumping to his feet.  Kento snickered.

"I ran into a pack of around twenty wolves and they were not happy to see me.  After we pounded on each other for awhile, some great cats appeared.  Lots of them.  They were losing quickly, being much smaller than the wolves.  You wouldn't believe how big those things were.  Especially that gray female that led them."

"Oh we'd believe," Sehkmet muttered sarcastically.  "After all, Cye killed that female you just mentioned."

"Really?" Kento hooted, looking up weakly.  "That's pretty neat.  The only reason the great cats survived at all was that they were cubs and their mother arrived.  She was HUGE!!!  I only came out in one piece because she thought that I was one of hers.  Didn't have time to look at me closely and verify that I wasn't.  Anyway, the gray wolf sent her pack to kill the huge black panther and she started chasing down the cubs.  Last I saw, she was heading kinda in your direction after some lion cub that escaped her initial rampage.  Guess you already figured out that part."

"No kidding," Cale muttered.

"Heh.  The wolves managed to kill the panther, but most of them died in doing so.  Only one was still up and running, so he left to find the gray female.  I ended up fighting the others that were still kinda moving.  I didn't do so good, so I hid when I was too tired to fight," Kento admitted sheepishly.  He looked up suddenly with a wide grin.  "Hey!  Cye!  You changed back!"

Cye opened his mouth to respond when leaves began raining down on them from the surrounding trees, blanketing the forest floor in seconds.  He paled instantly.

"The next cycle has started!" he cried out, tossing Kento on Sage's back and darting towards the top of the mountain.  The Ronins and Warlords paled at the fear in his voice, sprinting down the trail after him frantically.  "Damn it!  This one is the worst of the set!  Run!"

No one questioned him, sprinting down the trails at full tilt, their lungs burning as they pulled in ragged breaths as they charged blindly up the final trail.  They entered a clearing suddenly upon reaching the peak of the mountain, a field of black crystals meeting their disbelieving eyes.  Tendrils of molten flames moved swiftly through the black fields, the fires burning a deep garnet streaked with black.  At the center of the huge clearing was something akin to a cross surrounded by nine perfect obsidian spheres.  An armored figure hung limply from the cross.  Dried blood ran down the arms and chest of the figure, making it clear to the Ronins and Warlords that someone was in the armor.

The Warlords were the first to recognize the shape of the blackish armor, the long reddish hair spilling across the breastplate stirring slightly in the gentle breeze.  Cale cried out softly and increased his pace, Sage shooting by him in an instant as he lengthened his strides.

"Anubis!" Cale cried out desperately, swinging onto Sage's back as he passed.

Upon hearing his name, Anubis raised his head weakly, blood streaming down his arms as his movements broke the tender scabs covering his wounds.  He looked at the approaching figures with dull eyes before his head slumped to his chest again.  Sage lost his footing as every muscle in his body suddenly screamed in agony, sending him crashing to the crystal ground below.  Black flames began to shoot around the crystal fields wildly as the nine perfect crystal spheres around the massive cross cracked.

*     *     *

Rowen darted forward with the others as they started across the crystal fields, straining to gather more speed.  He skidded to a halt when Sage crashed to the ground just ahead of him, grunting in a blend of irritation and pain.  Rowen gasped and took a step back as Sage struggled to his feet, black flames rising out of the grounds to cover the shimmering fields.  The cracking of the nine spheres didn't even register in his mind as he watched his three friends in front of him in horror.

Sage looked around in a state of numb confusion and panic.  He looked back at Rowen with haunted eyes as his hair and thick fur slowly grayed before going completely white.  His skin began to grow leathery as wrinkles accumulated at an alarming speed.  He dropped his head slowly to look at his withering arms, his muscles dissipating rapidly under some unseen force to leave his skin hanging limply from sharply protruding bones.  He sagged slightly, becoming distinctly swayback before slumping to the cool translucent crystals below.

Rowen tore his gaze from his best friend to look to where Kento had landed after Sage had tripped so abruptly.  The sight before his sapphire eyes causing him to whimper and step back shakily.  Kento lay trembling on the ground in his human form, thinning gray hair falling limply around a heavily aged face.  He lurched strangely as he tried to rise, his devastated muscles refusing to respond.

Cale still pushed himself forwards towards Anubis, his once blue hair now streaked with white as he pushed himself forward.  Although he wasn't aging as quickly as the others, he looked to have put on fifty years in the last few seconds.  Crying out softly, he collapsed to the ground, still clawing his way forward as he struggled to reach his friend.

Reluctantly, Rowen turned to the others.  Ryo was already sprawled across the ground, snowy fur now replacing the raven black as he lay unmoving on the ground, panting desperately for breath past a wizened muzzle.  His once strong wings lay shriveled and useless beside him as his eyes slowly glazed and his breathing grew shallow at an alarming pace.

The Warlords were doing no better than Cale had, all of them sprawled on the ground, Kayura crying softly as she tried to push herself to her feet weakly.  Neither Sehkmet nor Dais made any move to get up.

The two elves staggered forward blindly, their molten gazes slowly dimming as they moved on.  Neris's pale blue hair had lightened to the purest white, and he was now sporting heavy wrinkles on his once flawless face.  Siellon was doing much worse, apparently having been quite a bit older than the light elf to begin with.  His flesh was already hanging slack from his slight frame as he pressed on, grinding his teeth and refusing to give in to the final cycle.

Rowen felt his heart twist at Cye's pained expression.  He was sporting several white streaks in his russet hair, deep wrinkles appearing quickly around his eyes and mouth.  He already looked to be in his sixties, which was better than any of the others were doing.  Eyes blazing crimson, he began a mad sprint towards the cross and cracking onyx spheres.  He collapsed just before he passed Rowen, rolling brokenly across the cool crystal ground, crying out softly when he was unable to regain his feet.

"Rowen," he whimpered, struggling to keep his vision clear without success.

"Oh God, Cye.  What do I do?"

Cye only looked up with haunted eyes and whimpered again.  "Free the world to the light."

Rowen shook his head slowly, eyes clouding with tears as he looked to his aging friends.  Only his immortality protected him now.  He could survive this, but his friends could not.  "I can't," he breathed, tears sliding down his cheeks.

Cye forced his eyes open and scowled at him for an instant.  "Then you want us to die?" he snarled, forcing himself to his feet painfully.  He managed to take another three steps before collapsing.  He didn't get up again.

Fighting back the tears building in his eyes, Rowen levered himself to his feet numbly, looking one last time at the broken forms of his friends lying unmoving across the onyx fields.  His tears were quickly replaced with a snarl.

Howling into the rising winds, Rowen gathered the flames licking the crystal fields, closing his eyes painfully as the powers converged around him.  In the furthest reaches of his mind, he heard the shattering of the black spheres ahead and recognized the danger that approached him.  He was dimly aware that he was gaining height and muscle mass as his conscious mind slipped just beyond his grasp, struggling to remember above all else that he had to break the spell causing all of this.  Burning tears slipped from his eyes as all conscious thought fled.

*     *     *

"Kento!"

Mieren froze as the single cry rose into the stilling airs.  Her eyes narrowed with strain as she pushed herself to new extremes as she battled futilely for speed.  She swore loudly and wished once again that it were possible to teleport in this area.  She had to hurry.  They were nearing the mountain's peak and the last cycle would begin any minute.  Leaves began to rain from the trees in virtual waves, causing her to cry out from the pure futility of her running.  She whimpered again as she realized she couldn't reach them in time, and even if she did, there was nothing she could do.

*     *     *

Rowen looked around the crystal fields blankly, his battered mind not recognizing the crippled shapes littering the grounds.  He knew vaguely that there was something that he was supposed to do, but could not remember in the slightest.  His gaze inevitably kept leading him to the shriveled centaur quivering brokenly on the smooth ground not far from him.  Unable to remember what he was supposed to do, he prodded the decrepit form with one toe, his face twisting into a sneer when the thing had the audacity to look up at him and reach out with one hand as if to touch him.  Faded blue eyes locked with his own.

"Rowen."  The whisper barely reached his ears, but he stepped back uncertainly.  Something clicked in the furthest reaches of his mind.

A spell.  He had to destroy a spell.  He looked around blankly to the surrounding area, the cross holding a dying man and the crumbling spheres.  He sent out a shock wave of raw energy, staggering when the powers were magnified and shot back at him.  Rowen slipped to his knees and lashed out again stubbornly.  Something in the distance snapped and the pain shredding the inside of his head abated.

Rowen looked around with eyes watering in agony from the original backlash of energy.  Nine piles of rubble lay where the onyx spheres had stood.  In the center of each pile of shattered obsidian swirled an essence of living blackness that slowly struggled to take shape, all of them humanoid in form.  Horns and spikes deformed some of the shapes and all of them sported weapons of some sort.  Behind them, the man hanging from the cross began to buck and scream out obscenities wildly.  The red-haired man saw him and froze in utter shock.  He began calling out something but was silenced as the mouthpiece of his armor snapped into place with more force than was strictly necessary.

Something slammed into his left arm, causing him to gasp in pain and stagger back in shock.  He looked down numbly at the tarnished golden arrow protruding from his forearm in mortified recognition.  It was one of his own.  He raised his obsidian streaked red eyes to the offending attacker.  He had to lurch to the side frantically as another arrow flew in his direction with appalling accuracy.

The dingy Armor of Strata unleashed a hail of arrows in his direction, all of which he evaded easily now that he was watching.  His mind reeled into clearness for a moment from the shock of being attacked by his own armor.  He blinked in confusion.  His mind was supposed to be clouded by whatever he was doing, but it was not.  He clenched his teeth stubbornly.  Now that his mind was clear again, he intended to keep it that way.  He lashed out with a spell of his own and tied it off as he dodged another arrow, lips twisting into a wry grin as he could feel the current cycle screaming in fury now that it was cut off from the mountaintop.

His armor leapt forward and took a swing at him with the rusty golden bow, missing him horribly when he calmly sidestepped the blow.  He immediately looked to the nine stone spheres with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

The closest of the piles of rubble no longer had the black essence swirling above it as did the other eight.  A sickly red color pulsed weakly from within one of the masses that was still taking shape.  The others each contained their own mass of pure fires within the murky depths.  His seeking eyes immediately picked out the emerald lights trapped within the molten darkness.

Scowling furiously, he dove past his armor to slash at the blackness containing the green fires.  Somewhere behind him, Sage howled in agony.  Rowen froze.  His lack of motion nearly turned out to be a fatal mistake, an arrow grazing his cheek immediately.  He hissed angrily and spun to face the Armor of Strata, refusing to look towards his friends, a few of which were struggling to regain their feet.

Snagging the next arrow out of the air as it neared him, Rowen whipped his arm forward and planted the tarnished arrow into the breastplate of his armor.  He screamed in agony as a ripping sensation exploded behind his ribs, blood flowing freely down his chest from a puncturing wound through his right lung.  He raised watering eyes to the arrow protruding from his armor that matched the location of the hole in his lung.

He backpedaled as the armor neared him, unsure of how he was going to fight back without killing himself.  His indecision earned him another hole in his shoulder as a single katana slid through his flesh.  He spun and lashed out instinctively, his hands tearing through the Armor of Wildfire as though it were tissue paper.  Ryo screamed.

Rowen flinched at the sound of his friend's cry, glancing over towards the shattered spheres fearfully.  The other armors were emerging, the once bright colors clouded, tainted.  The final armor to emerge was Kayura's, the bronze light within the black flames losing the battle for dominance and dying out as surely as the others had.  He sprinted around the armors to Anubis's side, watching the armors fearfully.

"How do I break the spell?" he cried out, snagging another arrow out of the air and tossing it to the ground before it hit the battered form in front of him.  Pained eyes slowly raised to regard him, blinking in hopelessness.  Rowen ground his teeth and reached out to the mouthpiece, trying to move it back with brute force.  Anubis whimpered and tried to pull away, his eyes flooding with tears.  Undaunted, Rowen hissed in vexation and ripped the faceplate free of the armor, tossing it to the ground.

Anubis wheezed painfully past a shattered jaw, looking up at him with clouded eyes.  His demanding grunt warned Rowen at the last second to spin before he was cleaved in half by a wicked no-dachi.  Retreating from the Armor of Halo, he shrieked as a slender venom-laced sword slid through his abdomen from behind.  Lurching forward off of the sword only earned him a series of holes in his chest from a carefully placed yari.  He wailed and moved away from the armors by simply leaping over them and darting down the hill faster than they could follow.  Vampire or not, injuries like this could still kill him if he accumulated enough of them.

Arrows followed his retreat, making him lunge side to side constantly to avoid the vicious projectiles.  He spun on his toes when he heard a pained cry from behind him, freezing momentarily at the sight meeting his burning eyes.

Cye had regained his feet and was trying, without success, to avoid the wild swings his armor was making at him with an already bloody yari.  Whimpering in the back of his throat, Rowen tackled the Armor of Torrent, intent on holding it until he made sure that Cye was clear of its swings.  Cye cried out angrily as he thrashed on the ground, unable to move his arms or legs more than feeble twitching.  Rowen's eyes clouded in frustration and helplessness as he turned the helmet in front of him gently to the side and watched Cye's head swivel accordingly.

Grinding his teeth, he hefted the armor above him and threw it forcefully across the crystal fields into an open region, twitching when Cye grunted and jerked violently.  He lurched to his feet with blood streaming from multiple lacerations along his slight frame, looking around frantically before sprinting over to Sage.  Rowen watched him run dejectedly, wishing he could do something, anything, to help the others.  He consoled himself with the fact that the others were slowly recovering from the last cycle now that the protective dome around them was blocking the effects of the spell.  Cye appeared to be in his sixties again, which meant that the others still wouldn't be moving anytime soon, assuming that they were still alive.

Making a face and forcing his mind away from such morbid thoughts, he looked around for the armors.  He spotted them easily, their slow, almost insulting, hounding movements towards himself and the others.  He peered carefully at the wounds in his chest and stomach, at the thin layer of skin covering injuries that would have killed him had he not been what he was.  They were healing quicker than any wound he had ever seen, but still too slow for the current situation.  If he took many more hits from the approaching armors, he would fall, leaving his friends utterly defenseless.

Grinding his teeth and growling loudly, he darted towards the armors, vaulting over Kento's armor to slam into Cale's.  He barely had time to raise his arm to block a swing from twin Starlight Swords before he was decapitated.  He whimpered in pain as his arm was nearly torn free, spinning to kick the legs out from under the nearest armor.  He pushed Sehkmet's armor into Ryo's and slashed at his own in his follow-through with no regard for his own health.

Ignoring the deep gash across his ribs and the trench in his left calf, courtesy of the Armor of Hardrock, he suddenly had an idea.  He didn't have to fight the armors.  He only had to keep them from moving.

Darting away from the armors again, he tackled his own armor brutally, ignoring the new lacerations appearing on his back as they skidded across the crystal grounds.  Growling, he wrenched the bow away from his armor, hissing angrily when he felt three of his fingers snap in response.  He abandoned his armor and entered the fray once more, determined to attack his own armor last in case he had to do some serious damage to it.

Concentrating furiously, he was able to summon several arrows to his hands.  He readied the first hesitantly, looking around to where the others were laying limply.  His gaze immediately fell on Sage, Cye kneeling beside him with his hands pressed carefully across a deep trench that passed almost completely through the older boy.  Rowen's breath caught in his throat.  Had he lashed out at Sage's armor just a little harder, he would have killed him.  As it was, blood ran freely across the smooth onyx grounds topping the mountain.

His inattention earned him another slash down his back from Cale's armor, the dull no-dachi now shimmering a deep crimson.  Jaw clenched, Rowen fired a single arrow into the foot of the Armor of Darkness.  Cale cried out softly and spat out a curse that Rowen was glad he didn't hear judging by the expression on the older man's face.  He experimentally stepped back, grinning weakly when the armor took a step in his direction with its free foot before crashing to the ground, effectively trapped.

Making a face and silently apologizing to his friends, he fired off his remaining arrows to pin the armors in place, turning to his own last.  Closing his eyes, he leveled his bow and fired.

The arrow passed cleanly through the left foot of his armor.  An immediate matching pain radiated up his left leg.  Groaning wearily, Rowen slumped to the dark crystal below, cradling the wounds blanketing him gingerly.  Alternately whimpering in pain and cursing under his breath, he pulled himself over to where Sage still lay unmoving on the ground.

"Sage?"

Cye looked over at him with tight eyes.  "He's unconscious.  He should be okay, though.  I fixed him."

"Won't he be mad about that?" Rowen said softly, lips twisting upwards in a rough semblance of a grin.  Cye thought about his wording and made a face.

"I _healed_ him," he grumped, smiling despite himself.  "How come you're still sane, anyway?"

Rowen shrugged.  "Not a clue.  I remember being surprised that my own armor was attacking me.  I nearly had heart problems when I realized that I was thinking clearly again."

"Again?  That would imply that you were thinking clearly in the first place."

Rowen smiled good-naturedly before remembering what he had just done.  "How are you guys doing?  I tore up our armors a bit…"

"We'll live.  What about you?  You didn't really fight.  Hell, you didn't even dodge.  You took some really bad hits even in the short time I was watching you."

Rowen was about to respond when an open palm cracked into the back of his head viciously.  He craned his head backwards and struggled not to flinch.

Ryo made a face at him, which looked quite odd considering what form he was in at the moment.

"Yes?" Rowen asked carefully.

"Did you have to pin our armors like that?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"That's not the point!" Ryo snapped, eyes blazing.

"That is the point," Cye said quietly, exhaling noisily.  "There wasn't much else he could do without seriously hurting us.  We're lucky that's all he had to do."

Ryo was somewhat mollified, but not entirely.  "Then what about the spell?"

"I don't know how to shatter it," Rowen admitted softly, staring intently at the dark crystals beneath him.

"Living obsidian," Cye murmured, his eyes blanking for a moment before he scowled and forced them back.  Ryo nodded thoughtfully and began peering around.

"Damn your infested hides, go get Anubis down!"

Rowen jumped at Cale's imperious demand, peering sheepishly over at the older man where he stubbornly pulled himself forward towards his friend.  Grimacing guiltily for not thinking of that sooner, he limped brokenly across the fields, using his tarnished golden bow as a crutch.  Nearing Anubis, he dropped his weapon and reached out to pluck his friend off the cross unceremoniously, trying not to flinch at the resulting grunts.

"Tuk yoo lon 'nuff," he slurred past his shattered jaw, doing his best to throw a glare in Rowen's direction.  "Wha happenta yoo?  Yur hidiyus."

"Gee, thanks," Rowen grumped as he halfway carried the near crippled man back to where most of the others were still laying, irritated by the fact that in his present state, his passenger was over two feet shorter than him.  "Dark magic does this to my kind.  I can't really help it seeing as how the lighter magics are still blocked."

"Yur kind?  Hell, thawt yoo died."

Rowen flinched.  He had forgotten that Anubis still didn't know what had happened to him.  "I was brought back to life.  Umm… you do know what a vampire is, don't you?"

Anubis blanched, his eyes threatening to roll from their sockets.  Rowen, recognizing that look all too well, sighed loudly.

"Nice to see you again too," he grumbled.  "Now that we're done with the pleasantries, do you know how to shatter the spell crippling the lighter magics?"

Anubis threw a wary look in his direction before shaking his head weakly.  "I don know mashic.  Yoo wurk ith it, why don yoo know?"

"Cye's the one that's good with stuff like this, not me.  Do you know anything about living obsidian?  That's supposed to be the source of it."

"Ow do yoo know tha?"

"Long story, so just trust me on that one.  We'll explain later," Rowen murmured as he deposited his cargo near Sehkmet and Dais.  Anubis made a choking sound and looked up at him demandingly.

"Wha thuh hell happenta 'em?" he cried out, eyes wild.

"Target of a few practical jokes when they pissed off the elves," Rowen chortled, ignoring the black looks the two terrorized Warlords threw in his direction.  "Cale and Kayura were hit too."

Anubis nodded blankly in Kayura's direction and began peering around uncertainly.  He immediately spotted the two elves slowly working their way in his direction, chatting companionably with each other.  "Wha happenta Cale?"

"This," Cale grumbled, plopping down on the crystal ground just a few feet from his friend and nursing his bleeding foot.

Anubis smiled minimally around his limp jaw.  "Wha'd yoo do?"

"Nothing.  Dais and Sehkmet pissed them off, then turned them on us."

"I had nothing to do with that," Sehkmet grumbled, glaring at Dais angrily.

Cye plopped down beside them, placing his hands on Anubis's shoulder carefully.  Anubis gasped as his jaw suddenly set itself and healed instantly.  He blinked, opening and closing his mouth experimentally.

"Why didn't your armor go nuts too?" Cye mused aloud, arching one eyebrow slowly in consideration.

"Mine was the focal point of the spell.  I was trying to tell you that all you had to do was yank me off the cross to get the chaos to stop, but my armor wouldn't really let me," he muttered, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

"Umm, oops?" Rowen offered when several glares were directed in his direction.  "Oh, come on.  How was I supposed to know?" he grumbled, flashing his teeth at the others without really thinking about it.  No one thought a thing about it except Anubis, who eyed him warily and made a face before growling softly.

"Does this always happen every time I ignore you people for a little while?" he grumped, looking around irately.  "Rowen is alive again but is no longer human.  Cye is human again and has picked up the ability to heal.  And all four of you idiots have been screwed up," he finished, making a face at the Warlords.  "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were doing this just to irritate me."

"Like we have nothing better to do with our time," Dais scoffed, leaning over to whisper something to Kayura, who immediately reddened and slapped him.

"The answer is still NO!" she all but shrieked, jumping to her feet and heading unerringly in Sage's direction.  Anubis shook his head wearily and rolled his eyes.

"I say we mess him up to match us," Sehkmet whispered loud enough to be heard halfway across the mountaintop, peering evilly in Anubis's direction.  For his part, Anubis jumped to his feet and all but sprinted over towards Sage and Kayura.  Ryo and Kento watched him run by with interest, poking each other as they headed towards the larger of the two groups.

"I give it one minute before they run him off," Dais hooted softly, peering after his friend with an amused expression.

Rowen watched his friends with a relieved expression painting his face.  Free from the effect of the last cycle, the last traces of the unnatural aging were now vanishing from the others.  Blood painted the ground from his fighting the armors, but his friends weren't seriously hurt.  He was so preoccupied with watching them worriedly that it took him a few seconds to realize that someone was talking to him.

Cye screwed up his face and started again.  "You intending on shattering the spell anytime soon?  I can't work with the dark magics without going absolutely stark raving mad, so you're going to have to do it."

"I know!  But I don't even know where the spell is, let alone how to unravel it."

"Living obsidian," Cye murmured again, peering around thoughtfully.

Anubis scrambled back over to them with a fearful expression on his face, glancing behind him warily as he plopped down behind Cale for protection.

"Told you it wouldn't take long," Dais snickered.

Anubis scowled.  "You knew about them?" he asked dangerously.  Dais adopted an innocent expression before glancing over to where Kayura and Sage were talking softly, holding hands no less.  He hooted softly and muttered something about miniature centaurs running around sometime soon in the future.

"Siellon?" Rowen asked softly.

_"Well, I guess they could have kids, but I can only imagine what they'd look like."_

Cye laughed aloud and repeated his comment for the others.  Rowen made a face and tried to keep from pulverizing the dark elf, reminding himself firmly that violence was wrong.

_"I wanted to know about the living obsidian,"_ he growled, eyes flashing from garnet to onyx.  The dark elf took one look at him before scooting away quickly.

_"I don't know,"_ he said quickly, still edging away.  _"I am unfamiliar with the spell that my kin initiated.  I have yet to figure out how they even got up here alive in the first place."_

Rowen had barely translated what he said for the others before a shadow passed above them.  Heads craned wildly to follow the silhouette circling the translucent black dome that Rowen had constructed.  The shadowed figure folded enormous wings to plunge into the dome with them suddenly, landing heavily on the crystal field a few paces from them.  A small black dragon sporting brilliant ruby eyes and a snowy mane darted over to them immediately, studying Rowen and the dark elf carefully.

"Mieren!" Rowen cried out joyfully, wrapping his arms around the dragon still staring at him blankly.  Neris and Siellon blanched and darted well away from them.  Still staring at them studiously, Mieren shifted back to human form, only keeping her wings to conceal her current nudity.

"I'll yell at you later for coming here when I told you not to.  Now how in the hell did you survive the cycles?" she murmured, eyes blatantly disbelieving.

"When did you learn how to speak?" Cye countered.  Mieren didn't even look over at him.

"Rowen taught me when he was here.  Now, answer my question."

"We toughed out the cold.  Ryo and Cale dealt with the heat.  Cye dealt with the water and the wolves," Rowen began, cutting off when Kento cleared his throat loudly.

"I helped with the wolves too," he muttered.  "Rowen blocked the last one just before it took us all out and fought our armors while we recovered."

"You fought your armors?" Mieren asked carefully, eyeing the battlefield numbly.  Snorting loudly, she rounded on Rowen.  "What the hell happened to you?"

"Dark magic does this," he murmured, staring at the ground carefully.  "I can't stop using it until I find the living obsidian to shatter the final spell."  Mieren paled.

"Living obsidian?" she breathed, leaping to her feet and peering around quickly.  She stiffened and immediately placed herself between the small group and the cross with wide eyes.  "Sage!  Kayura!  Get over here now!"  Sage and Kayura didn't say anything, leaping to their feet and darting over to the group in full gallops, trusting Mieren completely when she snapped an order at them.

She didn't have time to explain what was going on.  The cross cracked, blood seeping from the thin lines streaking the black crucifix.  The blood congealed slowly, rising into a strangely dragon-shaped blob as it darkened to a deep black.  Thin streamers of blood ran along the crystal fields towards the figure where the Ronins and Warlords had lain bleeding.  The pools of blood collecting at the shadowy dragon's feet began to swirl about it eerily, giving distinctive features to the roughly shaped figure.

"I think we should be going," Dais muttered sarcastically, edging further away from the thing along with the others.

"Do not leave the dome," Mieren snapped, positioning herself more directly between the small group and the forming creature.

"Oh God.  The cycle," Rowen breathed, eyes widening.

"We could teleport out," Cye murmured softly, freezing at Mieren's answering hiss.

"Do not attempt to teleport in this area if you value your lives."

"What'll happen?" Kayura asked carefully, still eyeing the forming dragon warily.

Mieren glanced at them over her shoulder, chewing on her lower lip as she struggled for the proper words.  "You'll emerge from the other side of your portal inside out if you're lucky."

"And if we're unlucky?" Ryo choked out, face paling.

Mieren paled slightly.  "I'd rather not have to describe what happened to the last elf who tried it."  The Ronins and Warlords exchanged terrified expressions.  If it was bad enough to make Mieren pale, they most certainly didn't want to know.  At her furious snarl, they hesitantly looked to the cross as it slowly crumbled and the creature before it.

Rowen looked on with trembling eyes.  The creature had completely formed and was now approaching them slowly, its steady deliberate pace speaking inarguably of unfathomable strength.  It wasn't its strength or deadly grace that thoroughly unnerved Rowen, however.  It was the beast's appearance.  The obsidian dragon approaching them was a mirror image of Mieren in her transformed state down to the last onyx scale.

Without thinking, Mieren shifted to her dragon form, trotting forward steadily to meet her double before the battle came too close to the others.

*     *     *

Crossing the last few feet between herself and her doppelganger, Mieren tensed her muscles and turned her last stride into a barreling leap, slamming forcefully into her mirror image.  She sank her teeth deep into the heavily scaled throat in front of her, not surprised when the motion was returned.

For a moment, they grappled, neither gaining an advantage as they rolled around on the smooth crystal field.  Claws extended, they made slashing motions at one another, hides tearing and blood flowing freely as claws met legs and ribs in a chaotic jumble.

Mieren broke away and rolled back to reconsider her tactics.  Her double was a match for her in strength as well as speed.  She had to find another way to fight.

To Be Continued…

There once was a man from Nantucket… wait a minute, this fic isn't rated for that.  Um… nevermind…  ^_^;


	11. Part 11

Obsidian Fires

Part 11

By Mieren

The Ronins and Warlords watched numbly as twin black dragons flipped across the smooth crystal surfaces on the mountaintop, slashing at each other viciously.  They broke away from one another simultaneously and moved back a few paces, eyeing each other carefully and panting heavily.  As one, they moved forward again, jaws snapping for necks and talons slashing at gleaming ruby eyes.

"Oh God," Cye whispered, eyes bulging.  "Which one is Mieren?"

No one responded to his question for a very good reason.  No one knew.

Black flames rose around one of the dragons suddenly, brutal waves of energy threatening to roll the observers off their feet.  The other instantly followed suit.  Small shock waves emanated from the areas where the rippling waves of obsidian rolled into one another.  Cye, Rowen and Siellon groaned and slumped to the ground.  After a mere moment, Rowen began to convulse.

_"Drop the dark energy you're holding!"_ Neris snapped, shaking Rowen's shoulder roughly and scowling.  _"Drop it!  You'll kill yourself if you keep this up!"_

_"What's going on?"_ Cye demanded, clutching his head in both hands.

_"Everyone magically inclined is going to feel the effects of this battle for days.  The sheer amount of energy being thrown around at the moment could probably destroy this dimension.  That says nothing of the powers that they're holding."_

Rowen groaned loudly, refusing to drop the energies he was holding until Cye slammed his fist into the older boy's jaw.  Rowen shuttered suddenly and shrank back to his six-foot height, panting heavily and glaring furiously.

"Didn't know you were that strong, Cye," Ryo muttered absently, turning his gaze immediately back to the battle between the twin black dragons.  Rowen's gaze followed his instantly and he lurched to his feet, starting forward hesitantly.  He stopped and spat out a curse that made both Siellon and Neris jump, glaring at the two combatants with a broken expression, obviously unable to tell them apart.  Making a face, he called his bow to hand and readied an arrow.

Both black dragons froze in their fight and spun to direct identical furious glares in his direction.  Rowen began looking from one to the other uncertainly as he leveled his bow.  Hissing angrily to himself, he loosed one arrow.

The golden bolt flew surely to land between the two dragons just before they resumed grappling on the crystal grounds.  One dragon leapt back, the other turned to look in his direction coldly as it gathered black flames around itself.  Smiling victoriously, Rowen loosed another arrow in its direction.  The golden projectile vanished in a flash of black flames before covering half the distance to its target.

Readying another arrow to try again, Rowen froze, every muscle in his body going rigid as his eyes glazed slightly.  He dimly heard his friends calling his name, but was unable to recognize the significance of their desperate cries, let alone respond to them.  He pulled the arrow back with as much force as he could and calmly turned to face his friends.  He loosed the arrow.

Everyone scattered except for Cye.  He stood staring blankly ahead with rapidly dimming eyes.  The muscles through his legs and back became watery, depositing him immediately to lie limply on the dark crystal ground.  Ever so slowly, his eyes slid shut, tears running slowly from cloudy azure eyes as his breathing grew shallow and weak.

Kento was by his side instantly, staring in abhorrence at the dull golden arrow protruding from his friend's chest.  He looked around brokenly, calling out frantically for Sage as he cradled his best friend's head gently in his lap.  Sehkmet skidded to a stop beside him, presenting his back fully to Rowen as he yanked the deadly projectile from the boy's chest and set about healing him.  A loud cracking noise caused his head to snap up suddenly and he peered over his shoulder blankly before making a face and plucking an arrow out of the back of his shirt.  He growled something under his breath about scales that Kento was certain he didn't want to hear.

Cye gasped suddenly and bolted upright, fingering the hole in his bloody shirt numbly, momentarily blind to Rowen's continuing rampage.  He hissed angrily and strode forward purposely, cracking his fist into Rowen's lower back while he was occupied with firing arrows at the others as quickly as he could nock them.  Rowen snarled angrily and slashed at him with the bow.

After a few seconds of grappling, Rowen abandoned his bow, realizing that the weapon was all but useless at this range of fighting.  Cye backed up another few steps, losing ground rapidly to the larger boy.  Scowling, he began to concentrate, ignoring the blows that were inflicted upon him.  The crystal below him suddenly flickered slightly and shifted to a deep teal before liquefying and swallowing him.

Rowen watched him disappear with blank eyes, frowning and sinking into the crystals after him, the black masses swirling and shifting willingly to allow him passage.

The Ronins, Warlords and elves looked around blankly before turning to the two black dragons, everyone tensing and clustering into a small group when they saw the now empty battlegrounds.  Only the golden arrows that had held their armors remained.  Their armors, as well as Anubis, were gone.

*     *     *

Mieren lay still in the swirling black crystals, her eyes remaining dark so her double couldn't see the meager light reflected through the onyx depths.  This was potentially deadly for her and she was willing to bet that it wouldn't bother her mirror image in the slightest.  She had to come up to breathe eventually but her double shouldn't have to if she was correct in her assumption of what had happened.  Even after three thousand years, her past haunted her still.

A flash of light shot by her and she almost lashed out blindly.  Her eyes bulged when she saw Cye slid past her through molten crystals that shifted to a deep turquoise as he passed through.  Rowen followed immediately behind him, engulfed in black flames.

Distracted by the two Ronins attempting to pound on one another, she failed to notice the minimal fluctuation in the light behind her.

*     *     *

Kento sent an order into the crystal grounds to produce Rowen and Cye, along with Mieren and her double if they were in there too.  He only received a sharp refusal.  Making a face, he tried another tactic, asking for the location of the four he was seeking.  This time, he received an answer, though it was slow in coming.

"Cye and Rowen are over there," he murmured, pointing in a vaguely northern direction.  He pivoted slightly to face northwest.  "Mieren is there and the double is approaching from that way," he muttered, waving one hand southward.

"What about Anubis?" Cale snapped.

Kento looked at him blankly and tried again.  He shrugged wearily.  "He's with the armors but I can't find out where that is.  The fields won't answer."

"What do you mean the fields 'won't' answer?" Sage asked slowly, his crystal blue eyes narrowing dangerously.

"They refused to tell me.  They wouldn't shift to let me pass or to bring Rowen and Cye to the surface either.  Seemed kinda reluctant to tell me where Mieren and her double were too."

"Does the ground normally respond to what you ask?" Dais continued, beginning to see where Sage was going.

Kento blinked at the unexpected question.  "I've never received an answer before.  The ground always does what I tell it, nothing more."

"The fields are alive," Sage snapped, eyes locking with the ground.  "And it has four of our friends and all of our armors."

"'In the blackest shadows of the night shall a figure emerge, and he shall stain the ground with the blood of his friends before freeing the world to the light,'" Kayura quoted softly, never looking away from the obsidian crystals at her feet.  "What time is it?" she breathed, refusing to shift her gaze.

"I don't know about time, but it's getting dark," Sehkmet murmured.

"Hey elf," Dais growled, hauling Neris off of the ground by the front of his baggy shirt.  "What time is it?"

"Time move different on mountaintop," he whimpered, squirming fitfully in his grasp.  "Near midnight."

"Have we bled enough to be safe?" Kento grumbled sarcastically, flinching at the answering glares.  "What?"

No one had time to growl out an answer.  A huge crack appeared across the black fields, molten blackness seeping from the shattered crystal.  A deep rumble began somewhere from within the onyx depths, rising slowly in volume and pitch until the sound was a loud wail.

"It's bleeding," Kayura murmured, moving away from one of the black streamers running across the smooth crystal surface.

"What in the hell did the dark elves do?" Ryo hissed, moving away from another tendril of gleaming onyx blood.

Neris called out something to Siellon frantically, paling drastically at the response.  "Field already alive.  Dark elves not do it.  Only worked with what here."

Sage swallowed thickly.  "So the mirror image of Mieren…"

"Isn't a spell.  It's alive," Cale finished for him.

"It's the living essence of the field," Kayura summed up, looking decidedly ill.

"You mean Rowen has to kill something that's a match for Mieren?" Ryo cried out frantically, looking as though he was ready to faint.  No one bothered to answer him, instead turning to the shifting obsidian fields to wait.

*     *     *

Mieren only grappled with the talons sinking into her back for a mere moment before her features degenerated into a snarl.  Eyes flashing garnet, she grated out a spell with the last of the air in her lungs, silently congratulating herself for casting in such a way that her double did not understand her and thus did not move to stop her wild chanting.

"Turning against the light, an angel falls from the earth.  He has been banished by the light of the world and dimension.  Turning against the wonders of life, the dark warrior destroys the world.  I will bring about this destruction!  Exodus!"

Streaks of silver-laced black energy shot through the black crystals, massive cracks appearing along its length.  Her mirror image shrieked in pain, losing her now precarious hold as Mieren twisted in her grasp and sped through the molten blackness before her.  She was distinctly aware that the thing following her was closing in quickly and was not at all happy about what she had done.

"Ieyenden mieris!"

Cye shot by just in front of her once again, a huge blast of bluish black flames, as well as Rowen, following him easily through the crystals.  Mieren made a face and dove deeper into the black depths, shaking her head wearily when she heard Rowen spit out the words to the fireball spell a second time.  Grinning maliciously, she pivoted suddenly and spat out the same spell in Japanese, knowing that her double could not prepare to block something she didn't recognize.

"Rend asunder the world with eternal fires!"

Somewhere in the distance, Cye and Rowen both cried out in shock and pain, emerging from the depths of the crystals to leap around wildly on the surface of the burning fields.  Mieren grimaced.  She could cast spells much stronger than they could, and it hadn't even crossed her mind that this one undoubtedly was beyond their ability to block or evade.

Eyes tightening with strain, she wildly ascended through the blackness, surfacing suddenly almost directly beneath the Ronins and Warlords.  The elves leapt away from her, screaming obscenities that she made a mental note to ask them about later.  Some of the phrases they were using were quite creative.

Mieren glanced around wildly, spitting out her own expletives when she didn't see her double anywhere.  Cye and Rowen were on the other side of the field, still pounding on one another viciously.  Features tightening with poorly contained fury, she shot a blast of raw energy at Rowen, shattering the spell her double had placed on him when he attempted to interfere with their battle.

She didn't have time to see it her intervention in their fight had worked.  Black tendrils of crystal wrapped around her tightly, pulling her back into the obsidian depths.  Her yelp of surprise barely had time to resound across the field before she vanished completely from view.

*     *     *

Anubis felt like screaming.  He was trapped in molten blackness, blind to the world and his friends and completely unable to move.  He vaguely knew that he was inside the field somewhere, but he had no way of knowing where.  He only managed to grunt softly when the crystals around him suddenly burned fiercely.  In the crystal depths far from him, he distinctly heard Cye and Rowen yelp in pain and surprise.

The crystals shifted suddenly, propelling him to the surface.  He wanted to cry out joyously at the prospect of being free, but his vocal cords didn't seem to be working at that particular moment.  He couldn't even seem to smile, and that was more than slightly disconcerting.

Surfacing suddenly, he tried to look around with no success.  Directly in front of him, he saw Mieren being pulled into the ground as she bucked futilely.  Across the field, Rowen and Cye were staring at each other blankly.  Out of the corner of his eye, he could vaguely see that the others were standing in a small cluster, staring at him incredulously.

Anubis's mind short-circuited when he spun and darted towards his friends, howling out a war cry involuntarily.  He dimly heard the other armors following him in his mad charge.

His mind reeled at him furiously, but he was unable to stop his charge.  His armor appeared to be doing as it wished, and he had no way to stop it, let alone free himself from its rampage.

*     *     *

Rowen froze in surprise when pain exploded behind his shoulder blades.  Cye leapt further away from him while he was momentarily distracted, snapping his hands up defensively.  Rowen only looked at him blankly for a moment before peering around in confusion and spitting out an oath that made Cye choke.

"Well, it sounds like you're okay," Cye muttered sarcastically, slapping him on the back of the head with an open palm for good measure.

"The double hit me with something, didn't she?" he growled softly.  Cye only nodded irately.  Remembering what he had done suddenly, he grabbed the front of the younger boy's shirt and lifted it forcefully to peer at the small white scar on his chest.  He grimaced.  "Uh, sorry."

Both of them froze when they heard a phrase that made their blood run cold.

"Quake With Fear!"

"Tell me I didn't hear that," Rowen demanded as he spun to face his friends.  He was awarded with a scene of total chaos.

All of the armors, one containing Anubis, had circled the others and closed in.  Weapons on both sides were meeting in showers of sparks as Ronins, Warlords and elves alike leapt about frantically in reckless leaps to avoid lethal blows.  Neither Cye nor Rowen hesitated before charging into the fray.

*     *     *

Ryo rolled to his feet stiffly.  He had barely managed to evade Anubis's sure-kill before it slammed fully into him.  As it was, he was certain that he would be feeling this fight for a month.

Crying out loudly, he snapped his slender katanas in front of him just before his armor sliced him in half.  Straining all of the muscles through his back and legs, he managed to hold off his armor as it struggled to kill him.  The runes running along the sides of his blades flared to life, white light bathing the area immediately around him and throwing his shadowed red armor away from him.  Something inside of him snapped, and he felt the blades growing stronger, more dangerous.

Red light began to seep through the white coming from the runes until his blades trailed ruby flames that seemed to linger in the air whenever he moved his katanas.  Ryo wasn't sure exactly what had happened to the blades, but he liked the resonance of power emanating from the shimmering metal.

His armor moved back a few paces and raised its own katanas threateningly, joining the hilts together and swinging the combined blades in smooth arc.  Ryo's eyes bulged as his own sure-kill shot towards him.  Unable to move out of the way in time from a blast at point-blank range, he snapped his glowing katanas in front of him.

The blast of power shifted to move around the red fires, half of the sure-kill passing harmlessly on either side of him.  He grinned weakly, silently thanking the elves for creating the enchanted blades.

Looking around quickly, he wasn't sure whether to grin in relief or curse furiously.  It was infuriating that they were fighting their armors, but thankfully everyone in the fray was still up and moving, though both Kento and Dais were trailing blood.  Everyone sporting an elfin weapon was surrounded by flames of some sort that were successfully deflecting the sure-kills.

Kento darted by him, spitting out curses that would have made Sehkmet beam with pride.  Orange gold flames trailed from his blade-tipped staff as he leapt out of the way of his armor's sure-kill with wide eyes and wildly flailing arms.  Not watching where he was going, he slammed into Siellon, the two of them ending up in a tangle of arms and legs and interesting phrases that wouldn't have been out of place coming from Rowen in the early morning.  Siellon temporarily down, Neris raised his single sword defensively as Anubis approached again, readying his sure-kill.

Ignoring the others, Ryo turned to his full attention to his armor as they locked katanas once again.

*     *     *

Siellon barely managed to evade a near lethal slash from Anubis when the older man ripped one of his short swords out of his left hand.  He spat out a variety of curses when Kento slammed into him trying to avoid his own armor, pushing the boy off of him to leap to his feet and turn Anubis's attention away from Neris before his light cousin was slaughtered.

He sighed heavily as he leapt out of the way of a vicious hook kick, scolding himself mentally for getting involved with these people.  He had joined them under the deception of a blood debt for a number of reasons, the foremost being so that they wouldn't kill him.  He had intended to keep an eye on their movements and to kill them if necessary if they came too close to these fields.  He had intended to turn against them much sooner.  He had!  But, so help him, he liked the Ronins and couldn't bring himself to do it.

He had known perfectly well when he first joined them that they were going to be trouble, from the moment that they had told him that they were seeking a dark one, the Child of Hashiba no less, and the Destroyer.  But he had ignored his instincts that had told him to run, to get as far away from them as possible.  He had thought that he would have gotten away from them much sooner, that he would have killed them and been done with it.  But no.  He had to get to know them.  He had to talk to the Child of Mouri.  And now, he fought for his life against one of the Armor of Chains.

He leapt out of his thoughts and frantically deflected a deadly blow from coming in contact with the light elf fighting beside him.  Neris was nicer than he had thought a light elf could be.  It had shocked Siellon to the core when he realized some time ago that he considered them to be friends.

He peered around quickly, looking for a familiar mop of hair in the fray.  He spotted the russet head a ways from him and sighed loudly in relief.  Cye was still alive.  He had been worried that his friend would fall to his armor's vicious attacks with the yari it sported, not to mention the claws on the armor's right hand or the tanto on its back.  The boy, more than any of the others, even the light elf, was his friend.  He grimaced at himself for the thought.  Friendship.  The very word was as alien to his people as loyalty.  Yet in such a short time, he had learned both and could not bear to lose either.

Cye had been the only one to stand up for him, the only one to argue with the others to spare his life and save him while he laid dying on the bloodstained ground.  He had been the only one that Siellon had originally intended on sparing when he turned against the group.  The boy was so quiet, so reserved and kind.  It was unbelievable that the boy could maintain such a relaxed, compassionate demeanor considering the troubles and sadness that his subconscious mind hid from his waking thoughts.  Something terrible had happened to him long ago, and it saddened him to know that there was nothing he could do to change it.  What was even worse, no one, even the boy, seemed to realize the heartbreak that he suffered from so long ago.

Siellon was snapped out of his train of thought when Anubis moved back, the other nine armors following to form a protective ring around him.  As he raised his arms, the armors began to glow, pulsing softly with a corrupted light.  The Ronins, Warlords and elves could only watch in shocked silence as the armors vaporized before their eyes, the tainted mists flying unerringly towards their respective owners.  Only Siellon's sharp vision awarded him with a view of the tears glistening on Anubis's cheeks as he began chanting softly in an archaic language from times long past.

*     *     *

Rowen could only watch in horror as the sickly blue fog descended on him.  The fog began to solidify into his armor, pain lancing through his muscles and tearing at his thoughts and very soul.  In desperation to maintain his sanity, he closed his mind and retreated into himself, shutting down conscious thought entirely.  He was dimly aware that he and his armor slid limply to the ground. In the furthest reaches of his mind, he heard the others screaming.

*     *     *

Ryo slumped to the crystal ground, tears streaming from his eyes as the pain racing through his veins intensified viciously.  He could feel his body shifting, almost in self-defense, and screamed out mentally for it to stop.  It couldn't help him now and would only make it harder for the others to stop him.  Coming upon that thought, he forced objecting muscles to raise his head enough to look around blankly for his friends through watering eyes.

Sage was curled up as much as he was able in his centaur form, clutching his head in both hands and panting heavily as he struggled not to shift into a more feral state.  He was losing quickly.  Kento had already lost that battle and had regained his feet, peering around with hollow golden eyes.  Sehkmet was slowly rising to his feet, greenish gold eyes watering slightly as he looked around with a malicious expression.  Kayura and Cale still bucked in defiance as their armors forced them to stand and move to where the others were congregating.  Dais sauntered by them almost arrogantly, a sneer painting his face as his one eye watered and softened in a last show of defiance.

Ryo lurched to his feet against his best efforts to remain where he lay.  He tried to cry out, but his throat was not responding to his demands.  He was barely able to roll his eyes to look to where Cye and Rowen lay side by side.  Rowen was simply unconscious, but Cye continued to thrash and howl in defiance to his armor's control.

The shock of seeing Cye almost snapped Ryo's mind back to clarity.  Almost.  The last thing he saw before his vision faded entirely was Cye, his eyes blazing an incredible teal before shifting to the deepest black.  His armor rippled and bulged strangely for an instant before the back exploded outwards, enormous leathery blue wings unfurling wildly before going limp.  Cye threw his head back, howling angrily as his hair faded into a shimmering pearly color.  Hissing deep in his throat, he curled up on the ground, contorting strangely as his mouth extended suddenly into a thick muzzle and he sprouted something akin to a barbed tail, every muscle throughout his body bulging.

One last thought raged through Ryo's mind before he lost consciousness.  _A blue dragon with a white mane, just like Kento said.  'Blue armor framed in white.'  Torrent.  Oh God, we're going to fight Cye._

*     *     *

Mieren thrashed wildly, her double smirking at her in wry amusement.  She knew what her double had done above, but she couldn't do anything about it.  She sent out a minor scanning signal, eyes widening at the response.

_"A thought has come to you, Destroyer.  I will know what it is."_

Scowling at her double and the havoc she was wreaking on the Ronins' minds, she sent out a vicious shock wave to destroy the bonds holding her.  She didn't hesitate before tackling her sneering doppelganger, praying to the light that Rowen could still pull his mind free.  Cye wasn't completely there upstairs and he needed help.

Cye's appearance troubled her though.  The fact that he could shapeshift at all was beyond inconceivable, yet he was taking the form of a dragon no less, the most powerful of all of the demons.  She had thought that she was the last of the dragons to survive the Dynasty's invasion.  Talpa had instructed his minions well to destroy every dragon, and except for herself, she had thought that he had succeeded.

She was the first and now the last of the dragons.  Of the many she had created over the years, none had survived or procreated.  She was certain that it was impossible for one to spontaneously come into being.  So how had Cye managed to take that form?

*     *     *

Rowen opened his eyes slowly, wishing he could close them again when he looked around hesitantly.  The surrounding area was enveloped in black fogs that stretched as far as he could see and undoubtedly beyond.  He was the only person there.

He rose to his feet slowly, confused horribly when he saw that he wasn't wearing his armor, or anything else for that matter.  He shrugged uncomfortably, not overly concerned since no one was here to see him.  It took him a moment to realize that his fangs were gone as well.  For some reason, it seemed natural that they were missing.

"Where am I?" he wondered aloud, looking to the endless abyss of blackness above him as though begging for an answer.

When he didn't get an answer, not really having expected one, he started to peer around curiously at the molten black fog.  He remembered suddenly where he was supposed to be and swore loudly.

"The mountaintop," he hissed aloud.  "Where is it?"  Only silence answered him.

Growling to himself, he swung in the direction his mind told him was north, instantly gratified when he saw the trail to the crystal fields in front of him.  He sprinted towards the trail, preparing to lift into the air.  His initial leap earned him a headache when he planted his face forcefully into the ground.  Spitting pebbles and dirt, he pushed himself to his feet and resumed his mad dash, cursing loudly about the inconveniences of having to remain on the ground.  It would take him days to get to the top at this rate and his friends needed his help now.

After running for only a few minutes, weariness seemed to sink into his muscles and very soul.  He swore loudly at his lack of stamina, wishing for his strength to return to him.  He could hear a soft chuckling in the distance.

_"I thought that you didn't want that power,"_ the voice laughed at him.

_"Who are you?"_ Rowen snapped into the boiling fogs, eyes narrowing as he squinted into the darkness, further irked when he couldn't get his vision to slip to infrared despite his frantic efforts.

_"Why do you want those energies back?  They've never caused you anything but grief,"_ a soft voice taunted him as it emerged from the deepest of the shadows of black fog.  Rowen blanched and scrambled back when he was presented with something that looked frighteningly like him, although it was not human.  It was him, but it wasn't.  Long fangs glistened in the dim light that came from nowhere and everywhere at once, his eyes blazing a deep blood red.

_"Who are you?"_ Rowen asked again, his voice barely a whisper.  His double looked at him for a moment before a slow grin appeared on his face, giving him an almost predatory look.

_"I am you,"_ he said softly.  _"I am the part of you that came into being the moment that you became one of the dark ones.  You were afraid of what you had become, so you walled me up here in the recesses of our mind at the same time you unwittingly split your soul into two pieces."_

Rowen shook his head in denial and stepped back again.  _"You're lying."_

_"We are of the same soul, you and I.  The only difference between us is that I have accepted what we have become, and you have not.  Opposing halves of the same whole.  Our soul's yin and yang, if you will."_

Shaking his head vehemently, Rowen stepped back again.  It wasn't true.  It couldn't be.  He could never accept what had happened to him, what he had become.

_"And why not?"_ his double demanded, eyes flashing.  _"Your friends have accepted what they are.  Why do you still resist?"_

_"I'm not a murderer,"_ Rowen whispered, face pale.

_"Nor am I!  What does this form entail?  Unfathomable strength?  The ability to survive mortal wounds?  Immortality?  What?"_

_"Death."_

_"No.  Life.  The ability to save yourself and your friends.  You are whatever you chose to be."_

_"I choose to be human,"_ Rowen whimpered.

_"At the cost of your friends' lives?  Damn it, I thought our combined mind was smarter than this.  You are a shapeshifter of sorts.  Physical forms are only what the mind makes them.  They are determined by strength alone, and to reach an acceptable strength, the halves must be made whole.  You can do as you wish, whenever you wish, but you must accept who you are.  How can you use energies that you do not understand because you refuse to learn and haven't the strength to wield?"_

Rowen blinked and looked up from studying the ground.  He sighed heavily, clenching his jaw and squeezing his eyes shut.  He nodded.

His doppelganger smiled slowly and moved forward towards him.  Rowen's double took his hand and pulled him forward gently into his embrace.  The world went white as the two became one.

*     *     *

Rowen's eyes fluttered open weakly and he groaned loudly, lurching to his feet strangely when his armor resisted moving.  His gaze immediately rested on eight armored figures circling two elves and a shadowy blue figure that looked startlingly like an armored dragon.  Something in the back of his mind clicked and he recognized the blue dragon lunging around wildly to evade the deadly blows from the armored figures surrounding him.  Cye.

Spitting out a vulgarity that made everyone jump, he strode forward, slapping armors out of his way irately as he moved in on the two elves and his friend.

"You okay, Cye?" he asked slowly, eyes hard.

The blue dragon blinked at him incredulously before nodding.  "Yea.  I'm fine so far.  But how did you know it was me?"

"Don't know.  Don't care.  Probably your armor if I had to guess."

Neris and Siellon looked at him carefully before nodding in unison and dropping to one knee in submissive positions, arms widely outstretched.  As Rowen watched in bafflement, they presented him with their blades, hilts raised towards him in offering.

_"What are you doing?"_ he asked slowly, looking over his shoulder to make sure the others were holding their distance so he didn't have to pulverize them again.

_"In the blackest shadows of the night shall a figure emerge, and he shall stain the ground with the blood of his friends before freeing the world to the light,"_ Siellon murmured, eyes downcast.

Neris raised his head minimally to look up at him with respectful silver eyes.  _"Free the world to the light, dark savior."_

Cye looked over to him with deep onyx eyes framed by impossibly dark teal scales.  His lips peeled away from a mouthful of pearly fangs in the approximation of a grin as he turned to face his friends.

"Shatter the spell," he murmured, rising awkwardly to his hind legs and beginning a deliberate pace forward.  "The ground has thus been stained.  Now the world must be freed to the light," he whispered, eyes glazing slightly.

Rowen only looked to him for a moment before nodding and turning to find Mieren and her double.  He glanced at Cye one last time as he sank into the black crystals, grimacing as the blue dragon that was his friend was pulled to the ground in a frenzy of attacks.  The only thing he could do to help him now was destroy the essence of the living obsidian.

*     *     *

Cye was nearly unhinged when Rowen suddenly leapt to his feet and stormed over towards him, eyes swirling to obsidian as he neared him, effortlessly swatting the others out of the way.  His aura radiated power like nothing he had ever seen before, surpassing even Mieren for an instant when he glared at the others with a malicious glint in his dark eyes.

When Rowen finally turned to leave at their demands, he heaved a sigh of relief, wishing he knew what had happened to his friend as he turned to face the others once again.  Without Rowen here to hold them off by intimidation alone, he would have to fight.  He managed to dodge sure-kills for almost a minute before someone got lucky and slammed a blow into his armored side, throwing him heavily to the ground.  Lacking the necessary time to get up, he lurched sideways and curled into a ball around the virtually defenseless elves and patiently waited for the blows to end, praying that Rowen would hurry.

*     *     *

Mieren swore silently to herself.  She was all but helpless in the dark crystals surrounding her.  The lighter magics still would not come to her call and the darker were tearing her mind apart.  Her double was wielding powers that Mieren would have sworn were impossible, one of the last blasts nearly obliterating both her and the mountain.  Only a frantic counter-spell had blocked that last incantation, thoroughly exhausting her and leaving her broken and helpless until her mind recovered from grappling with the black energies.

Looking up numbly, she saw two shadows approaching from the west.  She stiffened and moved to hide herself, eyes watering in helplessness.  The closer of the two figures was undoubtedly her double judging from the way the crystal rolled off of the dark form like thick water.  The other, however, was closing in at a terrifying speed, the black crystals screaming at the passing presence and all but shattering as they were forced out of the way brutally.  The aura of the second shadow was excruciatingly strong, the mere resonance of the energies he held causing her to writhe in pain.  She wanted to cry out brokenly when she recognized the figure engulfed in black flames, her heart shuddering painfully in her chest as the two approaching shadows met in an explosion of power.  Rowen.

*     *     *

Rowen didn't bother with a fair fight as he approached the black dragon just ahead of him in the dark crystals, instead slamming forcefully into the well-muscled side.  He knew that this was the double, the crystals had told him.  Not willingly, but they had told.

Wrapping his arms around the thrashing figure, he surfaced, unwilling to allow his opponent to have any advantage if he could at all avoid it.  He realized suddenly that he didn't have to drop the squirming figure.  It couldn't get away from him.  He was too strong for that to work.  Instead, he tightened his grip until he heard ribs creaking loudly.

His armor immediately retaliated, tightening painfully until he was almost unable to move.  Grinding his teeth, he shifted his hold to strangle the beast in his arms, grunting in pain as his armor closed in on him further.  He gasped when a section of his armor formed a spear on the inside of the breastplate, effectively impaling him.  _What is it with holes in my lungs today?_ he wondered absently, eyes tightening in agony.

_"Child of Hashiba," _the dragon sneered, peering over its shoulder to look directly at him.  _"You cannot win.  Release me or suffer retribution for your treachery.  You belong to me."_

_"Bite me, spit me out, pick me up, and bite me again,"_ he snapped, eyes flashing.  Without waiting for a response, he punched one armored hand through the scaled chest confined within his arms, grinning viciously when he heard the answering gasp.

He was about to finish the job when thick fangs sank into his left arm, passing through armor and flesh alike.  He smirked for a moment, preparing to inform her of the futility of escaping like that when he saw what she was doing.  The grin slid from his face as he stared in abhorrence at the tiny black tendrils moving through the blue metal of his armor like thick veins.  He paled further when he realized that that was exactly what they were.  Veins.  He could feel his armor growing stronger as the black creepers grew in number, streaking the dingy blue of his tainted armor with black.

Howling in defiance to his armor's increasing control, he snagged the black wedge shaped head in one hand and twisted viciously, not stopping when he heard an answering crack.  Putting all of his energy into one last blow, he ripped the head free and threw it well clear of himself as he dropped the corpse in his arms and backpedaled furiously.  A single thought rang clearly in his mind as he slumped wearily to the ground.

_This is not over, Child of Hashiba._

To Be Continued…

I am the dread pirate Roberts!  There shall be no survivors!  Wait… wrong storyline.  Oops…


	12. Part 12

Obsidian Fires

Part 12

By Mieren

Cye peeked at his friends between his arms where they lay folded over his head protectively.  The blows had stopped suddenly a few seconds ago and he wanted to know what had happened.  Upon seeing the others alternately cursing and stumbling around, he hesitantly regained his feet somewhat stiffly, pulling the elves upright as he stood.

"Dude, what happened to you?" Kento muttered as he steadied him slowly.

"You don't remember?"

"Oh, I remember what happened.  I just wanna know how you did that.  Since when were you a dragon?"  Cye just shrugged, as baffled as anyone.

"You okay?" Ryo asked carefully as he staggered over, banishing his armor with a variety of creative phrases.

"I think so.  But where are Rowen and Mieren?"

"Here," Rowen called out as he trotted over, limping heavily in his unresponsive armor.  Without its help moving, the thing was heavy.

"Shit," Cale growled, poking him in the chest.  "Your armor has problems."

Rowen made a point of not looking at his armor.  He knew perfectly well what Cale was referring to.  Black crystal streaked the sapphire parts of his armor, creating a vein-like appearance of almost translucent obsidian.  He was afraid to check, but he had a sinking feeling that his left arm was similarly decorated with the black tendrils.

"Where is Mieren?" he asked quickly, desperate to change the subject.

"Over here," she spat out as she clawed her way free of the dark ground, which no longer moved to any demands now that its life essence had been killed.  Kento made a face and forced it to open with his mind, grinning when the crystals obeyed him as any other patch of ground would.

Anubis staggered over to slump to the ground nearby to where Mieren was still brushing crystal shards off of herself, grumbling loudly as she did so.

"Can we go back now?" he murmured, eyes shining hopefully.

Mieren paused in knocking the loose fragments of obsidian out of her skin to look over at him with a fixed expression.  She quickly gave in and nodded gently.

"I'll call our rides," she murmured, throwing her head back and closing her eyes wearily as she concentrated.

"Rides?" Sage asked slowly, peering around curiously.

She didn't have to respond.  After a few moments, dark shapes began to congregate just within the concealing shadows of the trees at the edge of the crystal field.  Rowen moved closer to wrap a thick cloak around Mieren as he gathered her in his arms tenderly, banishing his armor, careful to keep his arms well hidden in the folds of fabric.  They had all had a rough enough time to last them for the rest of their lives.  They didn't need to be worrying about his arm right now.

Mieren let out a soft, almost musical note, causing the shadows to detach themselves from the trees and wander forward hesitantly.  Kento whistled appreciatively as nearly a dozen great cats wandered forth, eyes shining in the darkness.

"Man," he murmured, eyes bulging.  "Those things are bigger than the one I saw."

No one bothered to comment as the great cats drew nearer, each ducking its head to Mieren respectfully when passing her.  She only inclined her head slightly to acknowledge them before curling up in Rowen's arms wearily as he moved forward to pull himself onto one of the broad backs.

One of the larger cats plopped down in front of Kayura, rumbling loudly at her deep in its throat.  Kayura paled and stepped back.

"Are these things safe?" she called out shakily.  Mieren laughed softly.

"Yes.  They are merely great cats who live on the mountains.  The cycles here have given them their unnatural size, if that's what you were wondering," she called out loudly enough for everyone to hear, repeating what she had said in her native tongue for the two elves who looked like they were about to faint.

Neris and Siellon looked at her skeptically before boarding the same striped beast and nudging it gently to get it to wander over towards Mieren.  Neris cleared his throat loudly.

_"You have the thanks of the light elves, Lady Mieren.  You are welcome in our communities from the mountain's peaks to the ocean's ends."_

Mieren jumped slightly at the formal words directed at her.  After having been shunned for over three thousand years, the words of gratitude and welcome were foreign to her.  It took her a moment to remember the proper response.

_"From the end of the ocean to the mountain's peak, may your lands be touched by the light.  I thank you for your offer.  Should I visit these lands again, I will come to your holds."_

Unsure of what he was supposed to say, Rowen remained silent while the light elf ducked his head and placed one fist over his heart before guiding his great cat away.

"Is everyone mounted?" Mieren called out suddenly, raising her head imperiously to regard the others with commanding eyes.  She sighed when she looked over to Kayura, trying not to laugh.

With Sage's help, Kayura had managed to shift back to a human form, but was now half naked.  She was currently trying to hide in his cloak with him where he was similarly nude, oblivious to his crimson face as she tried to avoid Dais's lewd comments.

She nodded sharply when she saw that everyone was mounted, even if very unsteadily as was the case with Sage, for obvious reasons.  Raising one hand, she gestured sharply, curling up again in Rowen's arms as the cats leapt forward and began their descent down the mountainside at an unfathomable speed.  When Rowen began stroking her stomach worriedly, she leaned over to whisper in his ear, relaxing again when he grinned foolishly and turned a rather interesting shade of red.

*     *     *

During the ride down the mountainside, Mieren had taken it upon herself to verbally instruct the mentally deficient Warlords as to how they were supposed to transform back.  Kayura spent most of the time gloating that it wasn't that hard to figure out, turning red and growling whenever either Dais or Sehkmet made some comment about her proximity with Sage.  Cale was the first to catch on to the trick, grinning happily and shooting superior looks over to the two idiots who had started it all.  A few minutes later, Dais had figured it out as well.  With the other two's help, Sehkmet managed to shift back around an hour later.

Although everyone had noticed, no one commented on the piece of cloth that Rowen had wrapped around his left arm from wrist to just past his elbow.  Mieren had looked at him curiously for a few moments, but hadn't said anything.  Her silence was the only thing that kept anyone else from wondering.  After all, if she wasn't concerned about what he was doing, there was nothing for them to worry about.

They had transported into Mia's front yard immediately after passing through the rolling wall of fog, a race for the shower ensuing instantly upon their arrival.  Rowen was the only one not vying for the bathroom, instead all but knocking down the door to the house in a frantic attempt to merely get inside the house that the others didn't understand.  Uproarious laughter and a barrage of jokes followed when Rowen unceremoniously plucked a blue-haired infant out of Mia's arms before plopping onto the couch with a rapt expression on his face.  The Ronins and Warlords gave up trying to tease him about it upon realizing that he was completely oblivious to their presence.  They immediately began placing bets as to how long he was going to sit there with a stupid expression on his face.

Ryo followed Mia and Cye into the kitchen, the entirety of the story of their time in Mieren's dimension slowly unfolding between them as the three cooked.  It only took a few seconds before Cye and Mia chased him off to sit at the table, saying that he could only stay in the kitchen if he promised not to touch anything, grumbling loudly about his cooking skills degenerating to match Rowen's.  After a little while, Kayura joined them, flipping wet hair over her shoulder as she moved over to the stoves to help.  She reddened furiously when Dais and Sehkmet's comments, obviously directed at Sage, drifted through the house.  Ryo snickered evilly.

Mia started telling the story of how she had gotten Rowen and Mieren's child when a massive leopard wandered into the kitchen followed by White Blaze.  Mieren wandered in briefly with the blue-haired, silver-eyed infant clinging to her tightly, nursing contentedly, and Rowen hovering at her shoulder, much to her irritation.  She only put up with him for a few minutes before chasing him off with a growl.

"Had to find somewhere to hide," she murmured ruefully, glancing in the direction of the living room.  "Dais won't quit staring."

"What about Sage?" Ryo asked carefully, choking on poorly contained laughter at Kayura's answering scowl.

"He turned red and left to throw Kento out of the shower," she chortled softly.

Sighing, she rose to her feet slowly, so as not to disturb the infant in her arms, and proceeded to root through the fridge.  She returned to the table happily with a variety of wrapped deli meats hanging from one hand.  Not bothering to make a sandwich, she settled on bolting the selection of hams and turkeys.  Cye placed an enormous glass of orange juice in front of her as she was finishing, smiling shyly when she grinned at him in gratitude.  After another few minutes, the infant belched happily and cooed loudly enough to make Mia turn around to look at it.  For her part, Mieren whistled loudly, as though calling a dog.  Rowen instantly scrambled through the door to the kitchen, creating a round of snickers to which he was completely oblivious as he moved to take the baby from her arms.  The words 'whipped' and 'henpecked' came up several times.

"I'm going to take a shower," Mieren murmured softly as she rose stiffly and turned to trot upstairs.

"I thought that Sage was in the shower," Mia called out over her shoulder.

"Not for long," Ryo snickered as Mieren disappeared from view.

Dais wandered into the kitchen a moment later nursing a bruised jaw and growling something about Sehkmet that Ryo would have given anything to have heard.  He grinned widely when he heard Sage's startled yelp and retreating footsteps from upstairs.

"Lemme guess," he drawled sarcastically.  "Mieren decided that she wanted the shower.  Yes?"  Ryo only snickered for an answer.  Dais's grin grew slightly wider.  "This is how it's done," he called out over his shoulder as he wandered from the room and headed upstairs.

Unable to resist, Ryo followed him as he headed for the shower, hooting quietly under his breath when Dais popped open the door to the bathroom and sauntered in, swinging the door shut behind him.  Exactly three seconds later, the door crashed open and Mieren charged out wearing only a towel and a red face.  Ryo's jaw dropped.

"That's a new one," he muttered, shaking his head and heading downstairs to pester Cye and Mia again, praying that the food was ready.  Exactly two minutes and thirty five seconds later, he was chased out of the kitchen by a skillet-wielding Cye.  Kento and Sehkmet were already waiting in the living room with chastised expressions.

Roughly twenty minutes later, Mia called for the guys.  The word 'dinner' was barely out of her mouth before everyone was clustered around the table, Mieren holding her child.  The first question to hit the table was predictably aimed at Rowen.

"So Rowen," Mia murmured, smiling gently.  "What're going to name him?"

Rowen only blinked and looked down at the table, screwing up his face in concentration for a moment.  Mieren was making faces in unison with him, clearly discussing acceptable names.  After a few moments, he peeked up at the others.

"Touma," he said shyly, eyes glued to the blue-haired, silver-eyed infant in Mieren's arms.  He only stared for a moment before she handed the baby off to him so she could attack her food more easily.

It didn't take too long for Cye to pry the infant out of his arms so he could hold him for a few minutes.  The infant boy was quickly being passed around the table, everyone pausing in their meal to hold him.  As he was shuffled around, Touma's eyes grew wider and more curious.  By the time he was handed to Sehkmet, he was so excited that he wet the former Warlord, creating a round of snickers and one mortified expression.  Sehkmet didn't waste any time handing him back to Rowen, who shrugged and wandered out of the kitchen, Mia following him in exasperation.  Sehkmet darted out of the kitchen right behind her to change his clothes, poorly muffled giggling following his retreating form.  Mia returned a few moments later with a curious expression on her face.  

"Never would've pegged him as the type to know how to change a diaper," she murmured as she reclaimed her seat.

"He knows what he's doing?" Sage asked incredulously.  Mia nodded slowly.

"He mentioned something about babysitting," she responded carefully, shrugging massively.

"Caring for infants is the best way to earn some cash while studying.  When you're called in, they usually just sleep for the most part," Rowen mumbled as he reclaimed his seat and snagged a plate of food absently, all but shoveling it into his mouth.  The others only gaped.

"Since when…" Anubis trailed off, not sure how to continue.

"No kidding," Kento grumped, glaring at his friend furiously.  "Well?"

Rowen swallowed slowly and began eyeing his friends with a wry expression painting his features.  For an answer, he popped open his mouth and presented them with a clear view of his absent fangs.  Mieren's eyebrows shot towards her hairline and she began grumbling something in her native tongue that had Cye blushing instantly before rounding on Rowen.

"I… uh… figured it out?" he offered lamely, smiling at the answering groans and rolling eyes.

"We assumed as much," Sage said sweetly.  "But when?"

Rowen flinched and studied his plate for a moment.  "On the field when our armors came after us."

"That's hardly descriptive as to how," Ryo grumbled.

"Well…" he stammered, swallowing carefully.  "I shut down my mind to keep my armor from winning.  While in my subconscious, I came to terms with myself."  He stopped his explanation there, not wanting to tell the others that he actually spoken with what used to be his other half.  He barely suppressed a sigh of relief when the others left it at that.

"Your arm okay?" Sage asked suddenly, nearly scaring Rowen out of his seat.  He nodded nervously, refusing to make eye contact.

"I heal quickly," he mumbled, turning his attention to his food again.

"Then why is it bandaged?" Cale asked carefully, seeing where Sage was headed with his questioning.  Rowen had to struggle to keep from flinching.

He knew full well that they weren't going to leave him alone until they saw what he was trying to hide.  Sighing loudly, he placed his hand just above his left elbow and shucked off the strip of cloth he had tied firmly in place, holding up his arm with his elbow resting on the edge of the table.  A unified gasp rose around the table.

The veins running through the back of his hand were the purest black, the onyx tendrils moving around his wrist and running up his forearm almost to his elbow.  The blackness itself wasn't quite opaque, the obsidian streaks shimmering in an almost translucent manner.

"It's like your armor," Ryo breathed, his eyes demanding.

"That's where she bit me," he said softly, eyes tightening as he regarded his ruined arm.  He pulled free of Sage's grasp gently and set about wrapping his arm once again, looking up at the others with defeated eyes.  "Don't bother worrying.  There's nothing you can do about it," he murmured, not really sure how he knew, but knowing all the same.

"What will the markings do?" Mia asked Mieren slowly, clenching her teeth and swallowing nervously as she waited for a response.  For her part, Mieren leaned forward and pushed the cloth back just far enough to poke one of the onyx lines with the tip of one finger, intrigued by the strange smoothness of the lines.  She grunted almost in irritation.

"Nothing.  With my double's death, this is no more than a weird looking tattoo," she announced softly, smiling comfortingly at Rowen's incredulous expression.

"And if she were still alive?" Dais prompted, his one eye narrowing.

Mieren thought for a moment before answering slowly.  "The marks would act at a homing signal for her, crippling his mind and body, controlling him.  It appears as though his armor took the majority of the blow before the darkness started attacking him.  If my double were alive, the Armor of Strata, and eventually Rowen, would be under her complete control."

"Then how did she control our armor in the first place if that's how it works?" Ryo asked slowly.

"There are many spells that can so something like that.  The original spell was focused on Anubis's armor.  Once that one was shattered, my double cast another by calling forth the blood staining the crystals and using your link to your armors to turn them against you."

"Lot of fun that was, too," Kento growled, momentarily forgetting his food.  Mieren didn't hesitate before depriving him of it while he was distracted.  He blinked when his meal suddenly vanished, expression darkening immediately.

"You weren't eating it," she mumbled defensively around a largish mouthful.

Making a face, Kento snatched her unfinished plate of food.  Silence greeted his move before muffled laughter began rising around the table.  Mieren blinked in shock, eyes narrowing slowly.

"Is that a challenge, Hardrock?" she asked softly, dangerously.  Kento blanched and slid her plate of food across the table to return it to her promptly, shaking his head forcefully in denial amid peals of laughter.  Mieren had to struggle to keep her irritated expression, a grin inevitably tugging at her lips.  Tormenting Kento was the best way to alleviate tension that she had found thus far, and she intended to keep using it.

At a soft cry from the next room, Mieren glanced at Rowen, sending him hopping out of his seat and running to check on Touma.  The word 'whipped' began rising around the table again.

Ryo began looking in Dais's direction curiously.  After squirming under his gaze for a few seconds, the confused Warlord arched his eyebrows questioningly.

"What?" he finally cried out.

Ryo grinned mischievously.  "How exactly did you get Mieren out of the bathroom?" he asked loudly, catching the attention of everyone at the table.

For an answer, Dais only grinned.

"Come on," Sage all but pleaded.  "How did you do that?"

When he opened his mouth to reply, Mieren sniffed loudly and threw a calculating look in his direction, causing Dais to click his teeth shut instantly and turn to study his lap.  Rowen wandered back in with Touma in his arms and a grin on his face.  An unspoken message passed between him and Mieren, causing him to chortle softly.

"Well?" Sehkmet asked quickly, eager to cause problems for Dais.

Dais shifted slightly so that he was still in his seat but could bolt out of the room at a moment's notice.  He cleared his throat softly and glanced fearfully in Rowen's direction.  "I hopped in the tub with her," he squeaked out, sprinting out of the room before anyone had a chance to respond.

Sage's eyebrows rose slowly as he turned to Mieren.  "But that's the same thing you do to us," he murmured thoughtfully.

"You're not as scary-looking as he is," she muttered defensively.

"Hey!" Dais cried out indignantly, poking his head around the doorsill.

"Like I said, scary.  You're four hundred and fifty.  Nothing's in the right place," she growled while he spluttered furiously, spitting out denials.

"I look just like I did when I was twenty one!" he cried out angrily.

Mieren turned to look fully at him.  "My condolences," she murmured apologetically, ducking her head slightly, seemingly oblivious to his twitching.

Fighting back the crimson rising in his cheeks, he rounding on the convulsing Warlords.  "Like you have any room to talk," he growled, staring directly at Anubis and Sehkmet.  "You're both seventeen by all physical standards.  You're stuck in puberty permanently."

Anubis made a face and chose to ignore him.  Sehkmet looked up at him curiously before standing up and jerking the front of his slacks forward so he could peer down them, making a considering face.  He shrugged.

"I have nothing to complain about," he said smugly, reclaiming his seat.  Kayura groaned and buried her face in her hands, shaking her head wearily.  Sage grinned lecherously and slipped one arm around her shoulders comfortingly, blatantly ignoring the snickering from the others.

"Is that a challenge?" Dais asked Sehkmet carefully, grinning slowly as he began to finger his belt.

"Try it and see what it gets you," Mia said sweetly through clenched teeth.  Dais paled slightly and vanished again with a hunted expression painting his features.

Ryo glanced over at Mia in askance.  "Should I send White Blaze after him?"

"Please."

Ryo closed his eyes for a moment and made a face.  He grinned triumphantly at the others and turned to face the living room expectantly.  A loud cry followed by a sturdy thump echoed from the next room, creating a round of snickers.

"What should I have White Blaze and Chimera do with him?" he asked slowly.

Silence greeted him before Mia finally cleared her throat and asked what everyone but Mieren was wondering.  "Chimera?"

"The leopard," he said happily.  "Surely you've noticed her wandering around with White Blaze."

"Well, yea.  But we didn't know her name," Cye grumped.

Ryo chuckled softly and leaned back in his chair, silently thanking White Blaze for helping him torment the Warlord.  Things were finally getting somewhat back to normal.  Rowen and Mieren seemed happy together.  Their child, other than his shocking silver eyes, was a mirror image of Rowen.  Ryo absently wondered about what the kid would look like when he was older.

The idea of the future sobered Ryo up immediately.  He closed his eyes and forced himself to relax.  The premonition hadn't been fulfilled.  He numbly repeated it in his mind.  _Spawning of the shadow's past, elements shall follow the dragon's fires through the night airs as blue armor framed in white rises to his call.  Looking to the midnight stars and shrieking fury into the night, shall he fight the world alone.  Armors rise to fight again, falling to burning arts under a dragon's tears.  Ancient fires shall rise again, breaking free as dimensions fall to fight the powers of past mistakes now broken into shards.  Fires rise and fires die, falling to the dragon's cry._

Cye had revealed himself as a dragon in the dead of night when Mieren was fighting her double, but he hadn't really fought.  He had just lain still on the ground and accepted their blows.  He most definitely hadn't won.  Rowen had.  No ancient fires had risen and no elemental manipulation had been used, either.

Ryo blinked suddenly when he realized that everyone was looking at him curiously.  He forced himself to smile, mumbling softly that he was just lost in thought, causing Rowen to make some crack about it being natural since it was 'unfamiliar territory' to him.  He was grateful when they went back to poking fun at one another.  They needed to relax and have fun for as long as they could.  The chaos haunting their lives wasn't over yet.

End of Obsidian Fires

To be continued in Dragon Wars

You haven't seen the last of me!  You cannot escape!  Resistance is futile!


End file.
